E-Recruitment Comes to Interactive Television - 04/2000

Telewest Communications, the cable telecomms company, has signed a deal with Fish4 to feature itís content on the Active Digital TV platform from May 25. This is clearly a landmark in the development of online recruitment.

Jonathan Turpin, chief executive of Fish4 said ìFish4ís strategy is to make it's services available to the widest range of people via as many platforms as possibleî. Though Active Digital is the smallest of the 3 UK Digital Television systems, it has taken the initiative in making moves into the recruitment market.

Currently neither Ondigital not the largest player Open, which is part of the Sky Digital system, have recruitment partners. Sam Eaton a spokeswoman for Open commented that although they are currently in negotiation with a number of parties interested in providing a recruitment offering, nothing has as yet been confirmed.

On the other hand, Ondigital the second biggest player in Digital Television does not intend to go down the limited access route. Andrew Marre, a spokesman for the company commented: ìOndigital intends to provide itís customers with full internet access ñ we donít believe in going into a walled gardenî.

By the end of the year, several million households are expected to have access to Digital Television. The potential for this new medium to have an impact on current media is huge. Fish4 has taken the initiative and as history has shown us, the first player into the market often takes an unassailable lead.