AN Internet and digital TV company is bringing 75 jobs to Teesside with the opening of a sales centre.

Infoserve will open a sales operation in Stockton.

The company, which is based in Leeds, has established a strong presence in the Internet market in the four years since its launch and is hoping the sales division for its Internet and digital TV centre will strengthen its market position.

The Stockton office will employ 75 people within 18 months. A sales team is already working in the new offices at Stockton's Riverside.

The company operates www. city-visitor. com, which has 38 million hits a month.

Its chairman is technology entrepreneur David Hood, who built a £250m fortune out of Pace Micro Technology, the maker of digital set top boxes.

He also founded Yorkshirebased multi-million pound aviation charter business Multiflight, which shares its Leeds headquarters with Infoserve.

Internet entrepreneur Chris Johnson will lead the Tees Valley Infoserve operation as its business development director.

Steve Barnes, Infoserve managing director, said: "We are creating a new sales division in the Tees Valley after exploring many other areas.

"The Tees Valley has the right people and provides very competitive office space."

Infoserve uses Internet technology to secure more than one million slots for its portal on major online search engines, including Google, Yahoo and AOL.

The company then sells the slots on for an annual fee.

Published: 15/09/2004