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June 27, 2007
Tiscali UK Ramps Up IPTV, Securing Sky, Disney and Universal Content
U.K. IPTV operator Tiscali has secured distribution rights to the full suite of Sky basic channels. The deal marks a key step in the ISP’s plan to invigorate IPTV adoption in a market dominated by cable, satellite and DTT.
The deal includes access to Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Three, Sky Arts, Sky Travel, Sky News and Sky Sports News. Many of these same channels were recently pulled from cable operator Virgin Media due to breakdowns in licensing negotiations with Sky. The channels’ lack of availability on cable makes their IPTV entrance all the more important for Tiscali.
Earlier this June, Tiscali secured IPTV rights to Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney and Disney Cinemagic. In addition, the company has signed with Universal Pictures to offer PictureBox, a feature film SVOD product priced at £5/month.
Tiscali entered U.K. IPTV via its August 2006 acquisition of Video Networks, which had pioneered IPTV in the market under the Homechoice brand. At the time of acquisition Video Networks had built a Homechoice subscriber base of 45K households.
The company has a low-entry-price strategy in place, with a £14.99/month triple-play package based on a 2Mbps broadband connection.
Posted by Kagan Global Research Team at June 27, 2007 10:01 PM