New York: Real Media Europe, a unit of 24/7 Real Media, has announced that it has closed a new technology and services contract with NTL, the largest cable company in the United Kingdom.

NTL has signed a new two-year contract to use Open AdStream, 24/7 Real Media's proprietary advertising solution, for ad management on NTL's high-speed, Digital TV platform, which claims to reach more than one million subscribers in the UK.

According to a company release, NTL will use Open AdStream to serve and manage multiple types of advertising inventory across its entire digital cable platform, including interactive television, the electronic programme guide, interactive games and email. Open AdStream provides the functionality and scalability for NTL to build advertising models that are compelling to the company's advertisers and relevant to subscribers. NTL says that the software gives it and its partners the flexibility to sell and package advertising opportunities across different iTV applications and the walled garden environment.

While most television advertising is delivered to the consumer through a uni-directional broadcast stream, NTL will use Open AdStream to dynamically deliver interactive advertisements to its subscribers through NTL's two-way broadband network. Establishing this dialogue between consumer and marketer signals a new level of accountability and ROI measurement for television-based advertising. Open AdStream brings significant value to platform operators seeking to unify the advertising sales and delivery processes across numerous interactive channels, says the release.

24/7 Real Media (called Real Media in Europe) provides marketing and technology solutions to online marketers and publishers to maximise customer relationships and revenue.