A major new development in television technology was unveiled by the UK's largest commercial broadcaster, ITV.

Using the Television Operating System (TelVOS) developed by Narrowstep Inc, the new service, called ITV Local, is currently on the air as a trial with two initial local community channels for Brighton and Hastings.

The new service features local news, weather, music and what's on guides, as well as locally produced short films, features and entertainment and is available globally at http://itvlocal.tv.

"The rapid advance in the number of broadband homes in the UK, combined with improvements in streaming technology and Narrowstep's Television Operating System, has transformed the opportunities for local broadcasting," said Lindsay Charlton, the ITV project director. "By combining our traditional broadcasting expertise with the opportunities of the web, we are creating something truly unique."

"ITV has been proud of its regional services for 50 years, but until now we haven't had the delivery systems to provide a truly local service. I am delighted Brighton and Hastings have been chosen to pilot this service and I am looking forward to getting detailed feedback from local residents."

Jeff Henry, director of ITV Consumer, said he is committed to using the latest technology to allow viewers to access ITV content and commercial services in the widest possible way.

"ITV Local will use the ITV brand to entertain and inform, build communities and encourage participation at a local level," Henry said. "If this is successful we believe there is a great opportunity for a commercial broadcaster like ITV to move into new markets such as local classified advertising. We are very excited about the outcome of this trial and I look forward to results in the New Year."

There are seven different channels on each service and the ability to view content live, on demand, in a 24 x 7 schedule and via a searchable archive. Uniquely, the service will only be available on broadband at data rates ranging from 56Kbps to 800Kbps.

The service is free-to-air and can be viewed by anyone. The new network will be advertising driven, with the opportunity for viewers to upload their own classified adverts for cars, property and other goods.

"This is a seminal day in the development of broadband tv," comments Narrowstep CEO, Iolo Jones. "The era of narrowcasting has arrived."

The service will soon enable viewers to contribute and upload their own content through a special encoder developed by Narrowstep for ITV Local.

Viewers will also be able to add their own classified advertising for cars, homes, lonely hearts and anything else they wish to sell locally or nationally.

TelVOS is already used by Telewest (UK Cable) for their blueyonder tv service, with five 24 x 7 scheduled channels on broadband, as well as over fifty other channels, including High TV and Cycling TV.