Microsoft and BT announced today the U.K. carrier has signed a commercial agreement to use the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform as part of its efforts to provide video over broadband.

As part of the plan, BT, which is in the midst of its much-watched 21st Century network buildout, will run a trial of the platform early next year with a scheduled commercial deployment of mid-2006.

The announcement comes at a time when Microsoft continues to gather up commitments from large carriers. Among the vendor's announced early adopters are SBC, Verizon, BellSouth, and Swisscom. However, in virtually every case the deployment and service model is slightly different, said Ed Graczyk, director of marketing for Microsoft TV.

"'Every marketplace and every operator is in a different situation,"' he said. "'In many cases, the operators will deliver the same features but there are differences in the services."'

In the case of BT, the company won't be sending traditional over-the-air broadcast networks using its wireline network. Instead, the company will provide customers with a set-top box that integrates the popular Freeview service of 30 digital terrestrial networks with cable fare and video on demand selections from BT.

"'In the UK, you've got a lot of free digital TV,"' Graczyk said. "'BT wanted to create a complimentary offering."'