TalkTalk will give its customers a free YouView box as the telco looks to reignite its TV offer.
Its Plus customers will receive a free set-top box – the retail price is currently £300 (€384), which in addition to YouView content from the major UK broadcasts also features the TalkTalk Player and a 12-month subscription to Lovefilm Instant.
There are also major distribution agreements with BSkyB and UKTV.
Although the acquisition cost for new triple play customers will rise to £140, TalkTalk anticipates this will deliver positive EBITDA over the livetime of the contract.
TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding said the launch represented the company at its disruptive best. “This compelling offer is the UK’s best value triple play package. It will give our customers more reasons to stay with us for longer and attract new broadband customers.”
The company’s previous foray into TV was through the HomeChoice service acquired as part of the Tiscali UK purchase.
As part of the YouView launch, TalkTalk has reached an agreement with BSkyB for the wholesale distribution of Sky channels, but only it seems in the standard definition format.
Included are Sky 1, Sky Living, Sky Arts 1 & 2, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, Sky Sports F1 and the full suite of Sky Movies channels.
Sky Atlantic – also unavailable on Virgin Media – is conspicuous by its absence.
In addition to the live linear channels, in time Talk Talk customers will be able to access a comprehensive selection of bonus subscription video-on-demand content through Sky Anytime.
Talk Talk customers had previously been able to subscribe to some Sky channels directly through Sky’s ‘Sky by Wire’ service – a throwback to the former Homechoice. These customers will migrate to Talk Talk’s pay TV service.
TalkTalk subscribers will also have access to all of UKTV’s pay TV channels (Watch, Gold, Alibi, Eden, Good Food, Home and Blighty) via the TalkTalk Player. UKTV’s Freeview channels (Dave, Really and Yesterday) will also be available on YouView, and TalkTalk will be initially offering channel-branded VOD (video-on-demand) content from UKTV’s factual channel Eden and food channel, Good Food.