A HEREFORDSHIRE business has started a service that allows household bills and one-off payments to be paid over interactive digital television (iDTV).

allpay.net, the bill payment and collections specialist based near Withington, said the move comes in response to the growing demand for iDTV services which will accelerate dramatically from next year with the nationwide switchover to digital television.

Their new service, named allpay.tv, will provide a digital method of paying bills using a medium it says is user-friendly, familiar and trusted.

This will be done by pressing the interactive button on a 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 starting armchair bill payment by iDTV, all that is required is an allpay.net swipecard containing the unique payment reference number, and a debit or credit card.

allpay.tv is already undergoing a number of field trials and is also expected to become a way 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.

Damian Scholes, company director, said: "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."