Jacques Espinasse, the Director General of TPS, said that new subscriptions over the summer were up 25 per cent compared to the same period last year, the same figure cited by rival CanalsatEllite at its autumn press conference the previous week. Espinasse was pleased with the outcome of the bidding war over football rights at the beginning of the summer, as football is a major motive in subscribing that had been missing in the TPS arsenal. This together with the recent deals TPS has made in film rights and advance purchases (it is investing Fr200 million (Pounds 21 million) in French cinema) brings the bouquet into a strong position against its rival, he said.

Espinasse pointed out that the combination of premium channel Canal Plus (mainly sport and movies) and CanalsatEllite NumErique costs Fr325 a month whereas the TPS bouquet, now also strong in sport and movies, costs Fr175 a month. TPS now has 730,000 subscribers, and expects to reach 900,000 by the end of the year, one million during 2000 and reach the break even point (around 1.2-1.3 million) during 2001 and 2.5 million by 2005, with a 50 per cent market share. TPS is to devote two thirds of its marketing budget (Fr300 million) with a major subscription push this autumn.

TPS meanwhile has launched its new movie channel, Cinefaz (Cinema From A to Z). Referring to TPSi record to date, Patrick Le Lay, president of TF1 and of TPS, said that he was proud to have created something that did not exist before and bring it to the position of fifth company world wide in its speciality. While this view may be somewhat self-congratulatory, there is no doubt that many considered TPS a rank outsider to take on CanalsatEllite NumErique head on, a year after its launch by media heavyweight Canal Plus.

Alain Staron, head of interactive services at TPS, has made some significant announcements on interactivity. TPS Mail will enable subscribers to communicate with each other and with any Internet address, using the remote control or an optional infra red keyboard. The system will feature the possibility of sending "multimedia postcards" and pre-formatted messages as well as normal e-mail. When a subscriber receives a message, an icon appears on the screen when changing channels, and the viewer can consult the message directly on the screen.

Staron also announced that TPS are working with Sagem on a new generation of digital terminals which will enable the consultation of web pages on the TV. These should be available by the end of this year.

Staron revealed that TPS are working closely with Thomson Multimedia and OpenTV on the development of a Digital Personal Recorder, to be available towards the end of 2000. This is a project for a terminal along the lines of those of Tivo or Replay TV, includes a hard disc drive and enables the viewer to pause a programme (e.g. to answer the telephone) and also to constitute a "personal channel" based on their own tastes and preferences. "This will be a Channel 0, ë My Channeli, on the dec-oder," said Staron. It will also enable the viewer to consult trailers and to constitute a private music library directly on the TV.

TPS’ objective is not to take subscribers from CanalsatEllite, but to extend the market as far as possible among the 70 per cent of TV viewers who do not subscribe to any form of pay TV. Finally, TPS is to launch a set of interactive news services in partnership with Agence France Presse and France 2, as well as bringing additional partners into its existing services.