Brighton-based digital media specialist Victoria Real is using its experience of entertaining the nation with Big Brother webcasts to bring more open government to Scotland.
The company has been awarded a Scottish Parliament contract and will be using the technology which allowed fans of the reality TV show to log on and catch all the action, to provide round-the-clock coverage of its proceedings.
The service will include committees and main chamber debates, access to agendas and documents, including Members' biographies, and an archive of sessions held for a fortnight after the event.
Mike Worley, who is responsible for Victoria Real's streaming services, said: "From Big Brother to the Scottish Parliament, the technology is very similar, although hopefully the content won't be.
"In essence, we are responding to the same consumer demand - internet coverage which allows viewers to decide what they want to see and when, unrestrained by the limitations of the TV schedule."
Although demand for the new service is not expected to match the Big Brother 2 web site at its peak, reported at 745 million hits over a ten-week period, Mr Wolsey said the key to the project was providing access to viewers around the world.
He said: "It is difficult to estimate how many people will be using the service but we know lots of people will be watching events from abroad.
"We have designed a network to ensure the service is the same, regardless of whether the viewer is on the other side of the world or down the road in Edinburgh."
Three live video and three live audio streams will give viewers direct access to the parliamentary chambers in Edinburgh.
In theory, they can handle 300 million digital streams worldwide.
Alan Smart, the Scottish Parliament's head of broadcasting, said: "If Victoria Real can cope with the millions who logged on to the Big Brother site, we are confident it will be able to provide the same first-rate service to the thousands of people, at home and abroad, who already follow the day-to-day work of the Scottish Parliament."
Victoria Real, whose customers include Pizza Hut, UEFA, Channel 4 and the BBC, ended 2001 by coming eighth in the Sunday Times' Tech Track 100 league and fourth in the Fast Track 100 league, both of which rank companies based on sales growth.
This is the most significant government contract for the company, which has a unit dedicated to local and national government.
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