Aggregator Limited and MercuryMedia have entered into a co-venture agreement to develop and launch a new Internet TV service which will enable easy access to an extensive library of documentaries and factual films. The service, called 'joiningthedots.tv', is due to launch in February 2007 with over 200 titles to create an online resource where the viewing public can increase their awareness of the world. With a motto of 'independent films for independent people' joiningthedots.tv will address a global audience which is increasingly underserved by traditional broadcast television. It will offer a wide range of factual programming, including current affairs, history, observational, polemic, arts, nature and science, as well as providing non-partisan forums and a portal for user generated factual content.

"Today's TV schedules are driven by ratings and increasingly present a banal blend of soaps, gossip and reality shows, resulting in very limited space for high quality, independent factual programming. We believe that broadband is the natural space for documentary and we are excited to be co-venturing with Aggregator to create a permanent showcase for all kinds of factual films," says Tim Sparke, Mercury's MD. "Having released the Loose Change documentary series and attracted over 30 million online viewers, we know that broadband provides the direct and independent route to the viewer that our genre of programming needs and deserves."

Joiningthedots.tv will pull on the programming power and resources of MercuryMedia who develops and distributes factual programming for the international television market and has built a reputation for high quality documentary and factual TV series. Since 2000, Mercury has created a comprehensive catalogue, attracting the programming of some of the world's leading factual TV production companies.

The new portal will be published by Aggregator and delivered on its TVoBB content delivery platform. Aggregator will carryout a range of service creation tasks such as metadata tagging, encoding, site and user interface design, as well as the physical on-demand downloading of programming via its broadband platform which is based on open standards technologies and provides viewers with a quality and easy to use service - for example users can schedule downloads so that they don't exceed their ISP's monthly download limits.

"On-demand TV is a truly personalised viewing experience which enables small and large factual TV producers to have direct contact with their audience. Our role as publisher and broadband distributor is to be an enabler of such relationships, providing the editorial independence and the digital infrastructure to enable communities to flourish and for the open and free exchange of opinions and experiences to be shared around the world," says Aggregator's co-founder and Director of Programming, Chris Griffin.