NetPlay TV is going for The Zone

British interactive gaming firm NetPlay TV has signed of a six-month trial deal with UK terrestrial broadcaster ITV Broadcasting Limited to provide ‘fully interactive transactional television gaming formats’.

The London-based firm revealed that the new bingo programming would appear on ITV’s new late-night teleshopping channel, The Zone, and represents a significant milestone towards its goal of becoming the UK's leading provider of gaming experiences across a broad range of platforms.

NetPlay TV stated that it would begin providing 30-minute quick-fire keno and bingo rounds for each two-hour episode of The Zone this month over up to six nights a week. It revealed that each new format would be backed by a television advertising campaign as well as online and press marketing.

In addition, NetPlay TV will broadcast its existing Roulette Nation interactive game show, which is currently broadcast on Virgin 1 and STV, during The Zone in an additional 30-minute segment. Roulette Nation is part of the ChallengeJackpot.com family, which currently generates over £14 million in bets each month, and allows players to interact via their computer or telephone with a ‘live’ television roulette wheel for fun or cash from as little as one pound per spin.

“When we established NetPlay TV, it was with the dream of creating our own interactive game formats and getting them broadcast on a terrestrial television channel,” said Martin Higginson, Chief Executive Officer for NetPlay TV.

“The agreement with ITV1 allows us to bring together a number of disciplines from mobile to gaming in the delivery of this exciting new transactional television bingo show for a trial period. A fully approved and regulated product allowing people to safely get involved in transactional television games.

“Viewers will be able to play along with the show from the comfort of their own homes. All they will need is a television and phone. Every participant will have the opportunity to play a live bingo game for huge prizes ranging from cars to cash, holidays to dream villas. We have also decided to create lots of winners by paying out cash prizes to anyone matching just two numbers on their bingo game card.

“It is our aim to create the world's biggest game of bingo with more players and more winners than any game ever.

“This agreement is a huge breakthrough for the company and, while the new format has been costly to develop and is, as yet, unproven, we believe the potential upside to be significant. We believe transactional television is here to stay and we have the ability to deliver a format that works.”

In addition to television games, NetPlay TV revealed that players can take part in a variety of slot and other games with cash prizes totalling over one million pounds at Challenge Jackpot.com.

“ITV's The Zone is a six-month trial of teleshopping material following the OfCom rule change last year,” said William Van Rest, Controller Of Television Shopping And Gaming for ITV.

“Soft gaming products such as bingo are extremely popular amongst our audience and we look forward to introducing NetPlay TV's range of innovative formats to our audience as part of this trial.”