The German IPTV operator Hansenet is to offer the basic tier of TV channels for free to its customers as part of the broadband and telephony offer under the Alice brand. In order to boost IPTV take-up, people that subscribe to the €29.95 tier will receive up to 70 TV channels at no additional cost. Until now, a monthly fee of €9.95 was payable.
The new pricing in Germany is in line with similar offers in France, where the triple play price point is also just under €30. Hansenet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telecom Italia.
Alice Home TV is one of the three IPTV providers in Germany, the two others being Deutsche Telekom’s T-Entertain and Vodafone’s Arcor. So far, take-up of IPTV subscriptions by consumers has been slow. Insiders estimate the total number of IPTV homes in the country has yet to reach 250,000.
