BT dumps Open

The UK telco will receive three tranches of shares over the next two years for its 19.9 per cent stake in Open. The company was founded in May 1997 as a joint venture between BskyB, BT, HSBC Bank and Matsushita to pilot interactive television commerce (t-commerce).

However, take-up of the services has been disappointing, and Sky reported that the unit made losses of £158m in the nine months up to 31 March 2001.

Sky has denied reports that the platform will be closed as a result of the buyout, instead claiming it will be integrated more closely with Sky Sports Active and Sky News Active. The interactive division will also look at introducing services based on micropayments.

David Cockram, managing analyst at Datamonitor, said: "This is all about branding and efficiency. Digital TV and Sky have been focused on gaining subscriber base until now but they are now going to drive more people to use their online interactive services."

He added that with integrated billing systems, a BskyB-branded Open could gain higher levels of usage. However, Cockram admitted he was sceptical about how much revenue potential there is in t-commerce.

Datamonitor this week published a report which claims that the real driver behind interactive television revenue will be gambling.

By 2006 interactive television gambling revenue in the UK will reach $4.8bn compared to $450m from gaming in the UK. Cockram argued that t-commerce is likely to be even lower.