The BBC has announced that its coverage of the Martell Cognac Grand National will be interactive this year - with viewers watching on digital satellite and digital terrestrial platforms having access to two extra video streams.
DSAT and DTT viewers will be able to press the red button to access BBCi and access two alternate video streams in addition to the main coverage - the first, a guide by Angus Loughran and Matt Chapman to the racing, and the second, packages of the top ten Grand Nationals as chosen from the BBC Sport website. When racing gets underway, the first stream will become a split-screen service, with one side of the screen following the race from the ground while the other shows coverage from helicopter-based cameras.
Patrick Dalzell, BBC Sport's senior producer for Interactive TV, said: "It's great to be able to provide a new and exciting perspective to such a momentous sporting occasion.
"Interactive television enables us to add a whole host of features to complement our existing television coverage."
This will also be the debut year for the BBC Forecaster, a new computer database predicting the outcome of the race based on historical data.
Digital cable viewers, however, will only have access to a digital text service available through the usual "walled garden" interactive service. Neither the BBC nor Telewest, which supports enhanced TV services across its digital cable system, responded to requests for explanations as to why digital cable viewers will not have the multi-streaming capability on their platform.
DSAT and DTT viewers will be able to press the red button to access BBCi and access two alternate video streams in addition to the main coverage - the first, a guide by Angus Loughran and Matt Chapman to the racing, and the second, packages of the top ten Grand Nationals as chosen from the BBC Sport website. When racing gets underway, the first stream will become a split-screen service, with one side of the screen following the race from the ground while the other shows coverage from helicopter-based cameras.
Patrick Dalzell, BBC Sport's senior producer for Interactive TV, said: "It's great to be able to provide a new and exciting perspective to such a momentous sporting occasion.
"Interactive television enables us to add a whole host of features to complement our existing television coverage."
This will also be the debut year for the BBC Forecaster, a new computer database predicting the outcome of the race based on historical data.
Digital cable viewers, however, will only have access to a digital text service available through the usual "walled garden" interactive service. Neither the BBC nor Telewest, which supports enhanced TV services across its digital cable system, responded to requests for explanations as to why digital cable viewers will not have the multi-streaming capability on their platform.
