A BRITISH COMPANY IS providing Pay-per-view funeral services, which lets people pay their last respects to their dearly departed, via internet linkup direct to the crematorium.

Wesley Music, a subsidiary of a company (aptly?) named Yaboo, was initially founded to provide music identification, search and supply service for crematoriums. They have now decided to branch out from audio to visual, charging $150 for funerals to be webcasted.

The macabre move will allow mourners who would not otherwise be able to attend their loved one’s cremation, to log on to an online broadcast of the funeral, filmed by a camera set up in the crematorium chapel.

Alan Jeffrey, director of Wesley Music said that the service would help to " connect family members across the world" who might not be able to make it back in time to see their dearly departed go up in smoke.

Asked about whether it was not a concern to the company that such videos might end up on YouTube, Jeffrey admitted that it was not an impossible eventuality. He did add, however, that the risk of such a thing occurring would be low considering that firstly, only people with the necessary software could make copies of the broadcast, and secondly, only people personally invited by the family of the deceased could access the streaming of the ceremony via password. Care should be exercised when adding an embittered ex lover to the password-holding list then.

Jeffrey noted that the initial stream would be virtually live (no pun intended), with maybe just a few seconds delay resulting from slow bandwidth. Thereafter the service would be made available to password holders for a period of

seven days, or less, depending on the family’s instructions. The cremation video would allow for viewers to pause, fast-forward or rewind to the best parts of the service on the re-visit stream.

Currently the service is only available in the UK, but Jeffrey said that Wesley Music was "negotiating with potential partners in other countries regarding a possible cross-provision [of the service]".

He added that the company might not only restrict itself to streaming funerals and that they had "already provided details and quotations to a number of Wedding establishments" interested in the service. µ

L’Inq
Wesley Music