Starcom to chart future of TV in mag for Observer

Starcom has created a bespoke magazine for the Observer that will chart the history and future developments of TV. BT Vision, the digital TV broadcaster, will sponsor the one-off supplement.

The magazine, called The Future of TV, will be published this weekend (July 15). As well as the past 50 years in TV, the magazine will profile the industry figures that have shaped the medium.

It will also cover topics such as problems surrounding children’s programming and will take a look at how the TV industry has fared in predicting the future.

The co-branded magazine is part of BT’s promotional strategy for its broadband TV product. It is the company’s biggest ad push for its TV brand to date.

BT has invested heavily in the launch of the new TV service in a bid to steal share from BSkyB and Virgin Media. BT Vision offers digital TV both via cable, aerial and online. The market has become increasingly cluttered over the past year with other new launches from mobile phone operator Orange. Screen Digest predicts that BT Vision will have about 65% of the UK’s IPTV market by 2011.