John Bentley

John Bentley

Broken Tech Broken Earth

John Bentley is attributed to the inventor of ‘internet TV’ and modern streaming services between 1994-1996. Viewcall was a company John Bentley founded to produce an STB (set top box) which was the first hit in the world to connect a television to the Internet by a standard dial-up PSTN phone line. It was first demonstrated at Cambridge Science Park.

John thanks Cambridge’s network highlighting “I took my concept of connecting the TV to the internet in 1994 to specialist companies in the Science Park and met with brilliant people who combined, helped me to create and complete the British invention of Internet TC and streaming video”.

He is now retired and has recently self-published a book called ‘Mr. Internet TV, The Ego and the ID’ which is an autobiography of his life and career. He hopes that his story can inspire the next generation of tech innovators, particularly from the Cambridge area.

This story was shared by a volunteer as part of the Broken Tech, Broken Earth project which aims to co-create events with the local community about the social, historical and environmental impacts of technology. This project is externally funded by the Esmeé Fairbairn Collections Fund as part of the Museum Association. The project is led by the Centre for Computing History, which is a registered educational charity and independent museum located in Cambridge. Our mission is to use our collections, displays, learning programmes, and events to engage the public with the developments in computing over the past 80 years.

#InternetTV #CambridgeSceincePark