A system that allows video broadcasts to be sent to individual computers around the world by satellite has been invented by British scientists.
Broadcast information can be delivered faster, in higher quality and up to one million times cheaper than using broadband Web streaming, Chelmsford company Enformatica claims.
And some 300 million computer users are ready to receive the video streams through Microsoft's Windows operating system, which is already equipped to potentially run the new Enfocast system, according to Enformatica chairman Mr William Poel.
The development could revolutionise mobile communications, making broadcasts easily and cheaply available not just on computers but on mobile phones, pagers and handheld devices, he added.
Enformatica already uses Enfocast to run a Business Media Network, which provides companies with a mixture of broadcast channels such as CNN, BBC News 24 and ITN, as well as a range of tailored data.
But the company believes there is huge potential to provide video material to consumers using the satellite system, making it much cheaper and easier than broadband Internet streaming, which is the current norm.
PA