Several hundred families in Kingston-upon-Hull are aiming to be connected to the City's interactive TV system over the next few weeks thus aiming to become the world's first digital city.

This initiative launched by the City Council aims to have everyone living within the city to have access to a wide range of local information and services on-line, from shopping to public services and learning provision.

The city council is the main shareholder of Hull's former municipal telephone company that have been researching Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) that enable high-speed data including television channels to be transmitted over existing networks without the need for PC's, modems, etc.

Big companies such as Sony and Ericsson have shown interest in the technology and Kingston Business Communications are waiting for access when changes are brought about by Oftel to BT's telephone exchanges so that they can launch a low-cost, high-speed internet service within the city.