Bills On The Box!

allpay.net, the bill payment and collections specialist, today announced allpay.tv, the UK's first ever service that allows household bills and one-off payments to be paid over interactive digital television (iDTV). This is in response to growing demand for iDTV services which will accelerate dramatically from next year, following commencement of the nationwide switchover to digital television.

As consumers grow to expect more TV functionality and interactivity, allpay.tv delivers a secure and highly convenient 'digital age' method of paying bills from their armchairs using a medium that is user-friendly, familiar and trusted.

Using allpay.tv is fast and easy to do by pressing the interactive button on the remote control, navigating to the appropriate menu option and selecting allpay.tv. After entering a unique user ID number via the remote control keys, users are prompted through a few easy steps to complete their bill transactions.

For commencing armchair bill payment by iDTV, all that is required is an allpay.net swipecard containing the unique payment reference number (issued by the payee), and a debit or credit card.

For public sector organisations, along with providing their customers with added choice and convenience, this new 24/7 bill payment channel will assist them in meeting e-government targets for payment service accessibility. allpay.tv is already undergoing a number of field trials and is expected to prove an ideal solution for helping people pay a range of bills issued by their local authorities and housing associations. These will include housing rents, council taxes and municipal hire charges.

In addition to allpay.tv, allpay.net offers consumers a broad array of other convenient bill payment channels including over the counter at more than 45,000 outlets, electronic swipecards, Direct Debits, Kiosks, Internet, IVR phone and mobile text messaging solutions.

"allpay.tv joins what is already the industry's widest portfolio for bill payment and collection solutions and is indicative of our ongoing commitment to assuring greater digital and financial inclusion for all members of society," said Damian Scholes, director, allpay.net.

He added: "allpay.tv means we are ready today to partner local government as it moves to embrace the digital television switchover. With the many exciting public service opportunities and innovations that local authorities are starting to deliver over iDTV, allpay.net is well-positioned by being at the cutting edge of interactive TV bill payment technology."

allpay.net provides standard and bespoke services, enabling client organisations the option of branding allpay.tv and any of the other allpay.net payment collection channels in their own liveries. All clients benefit from having their payment data made available the next working day over allpay's WebconnectT secure Internet based communication portal. This allows posting of payments to revenue, housing management and accounting systems as a single data-stream, providing a seamless, cost effective solution to revenue collection.