TalkTalk TV

TalkTalk TV
Type Pay TV
Country United Kingdom
Availability IPTV
Founded September 2012 (originally 2000)
Slogan A Brighter Home for Everyone
Broadcast area
 United Kingdom
Former names
 Homechoice, Tiscali TV, TalkTalk TV
Official website
 https://sales.talktalk.co.uk/product/tv

TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group. In its current form, it was launched on 3 September 2012 in a partnership with YouView. Its offering is delivered over a BT phone line, using ADSL or VDSL to provide a triple-play package of IPTV, video on demand, telephony and broadband internet access. There are now 2 options available – Plus TV or Essentials TV. The only difference is the Essentials Box cannot record and only has the capability of pausing and rewinding for up to 30 Minutes, compared to the standard 2 Hours on the Plus Box. The YouView box is a Smart Freeview+HD box which means BBC 1 to 4 News and CBBC, ITV & Channel 4 are available in HD free. Humax have a silver 1TB model which can be bought in retail stores and can be used with or without a TalkTalk subscription. Currently both Huawei boxes do not have Wifi built in, and therefore an ethernet cable must be used for internet content and boosts.

History

The service, originally known as Homechoice, was launched in September 2000 in the London area and provided by Video Networks Limited (VNL), based in Shepherd's Bush in London. In 2003, as Homechoice, it expanded its video services to include, via its IPTV platform, the majority of live channels that are available on the Freeview platform. Homechoice was purchased by Tiscali UK in August 2006, and became known as Tiscali TV.

On 30 June 2009, a deal for The Carphone Warehouse to purchase all the assets of Tiscali UK for its TalkTalk division was approved by the European Union. As a result of Tiscali UK's acquisition, Tiscali TV was rebranded as TalkTalk TV as of 14 July 2009.

TalkTalk TV however struggled to compete against BSkyB, Virgin Media and BT's television services. By the time Tiscali UK was taken over, there were just 50,000 TV subscribers, but subsequently TalkTalk could not manage to 'beef-up' the TV service as it remained uncompetitive and very minor. On 20 October 2010, TalkTalk announced its plans to launch a new, much-improved TV service in 2011, in a partnership with the newly formed YouView which was given the green light by Ofcom that same month.[1] By the start of 2011, TalkTalk discontinued its existing TV service and removed it from their official site (but continued to run the service for existing customers).

TalkTalk formally launched its new YouView-based TV service in September 2012, along with the major TV channels providing pay-for-TV on a 30-day rolling contract or free TV. A free YouView box will be provided to TalkTalk Plus customers taking out a fixed term contract (for Broadband and Phone) and allow access to the content previously available from TalkTalk TV. Content that TalkTalk provides is available from the TalkTalk Player application within the YouView menu, whereas channels now have as of 7 August 2013 dedicated traditional EPG numbering. BT, similarly to TalkTalk, offer a TV service together with YouView. Despite being launched in September 2012, TalkTalk did not start to heavily promote its TV service until early 2013.

By May 2013, TalkTalk Plus TV became Britain's fastest growing TV service.[2]

As of 1 September 2014, customers with a second YouView box will not be able to watch Boost channels. The boxes will be describes as Primary and Secondary boxes, where TV boosts are only available on the Primary Box. There is currently no multi-room package.

YouView launched a Netflix player for new and existing Netflix customers. This is now on retail boxes and will launch on TalkTalk early 2015.

TalkTalk announces the axe of six Discovery network channels from the Entertainment boosts on 30 June 2016.[3]

TalkTalk strikes a deal to offer original series and content from Maker Studios, a company owned by the Walt Disney Company.

Channels and content

TalkTalk Plus TV is delivered by IPTV signals using a YouView set-top box. These boxes also allow access to digital terrestrial television (DTT) signals using an additional aerial to watch Freeview channels. Originally all its channels and content were available on the TalkTalk Player without any EPG channel numbers. On 7 August 2013, the channels became available on the YouView EPG with channel numbering ranging from 401 to 599. The channels can be bought as packages or 'boosts' which can be changed every 30 days if desired. Customers can Record these 'Boost' channels, along with a new and updated version of the TalkTalk Player with the removal of these package channels as they are listed on the main YouView guide alongside the Freeview channels. As of June 2015 the channels were re-numbered in a more logical order and start from 301 instead of the original 401.

Current TalkTalk packages with the channel numbers are as follows (On Demand content is in the TalkTalk Player):

TV Starter Boost for £5 (for Essential TV Customers or Included with Plus TV)

Entertainment Boost for £10 All 'TV Starter Boost' channels plus:

Kids Boost for £5

Music Boost for £5

Entertainment Extra Boost for £15
All of the following boosts combined (Saving of £5)

Plus:

Sky Cinema for £15

Sky Sports for £30

BT Sport for ?

BoxNation for £12

More Options in the TalkTalk Player:

World Boosts on TalkTalk

Star TV Boost for £5

Asian TV Boost for £10

Tiscali/TalkTalk TV (2006–2011)

Access

Access to the channels and the Video on demand is via a self branded set-top box that is connected to the customer's Television set, rather than via the customer's computer. The latest set-top box features an Aerial socket and a DVB-T receiver to allow the customer to receive additional channels via the Freeview platform as well as the channels received over IPTV, subject to Freeview coverage and quality of reception. A wireless router for internet access that connects to the set-top box is now also provided as standard.

TalkTalk+

TalkTalk offers 'TalkTalk+' (formerly Tiscali+), a 160 GB hard-drive Digital video recorder, which holds an approximate total of 50 hours of television and also acts as a replacement for the standard set-top box. The TalkTalk+ box has two DVB-T tuners and one IPTV tuner. This means the customer can simultaneously record up to three separate channels, provided that two of the channels are being received via Freeview and the third via IPTV. As the box has only one IPTV tuner, it is only possible to record or watch one IPTV channel at a time. TalkTalk+ is available subject to a one-off payment and a twelve-month contract or contract renewal.

Service area

TalkTalk TV was initially only available in parts of London, Surrey and Hertfordshire. Since September 2007 areas such as Central and Northern England were TalkTalk TV enabled. Around 680 Telephone Exchanges are now Tiscali LLU enabled, mostly in London, Manchester, the Midlands and Yorkshire and a spattering throughout the rest of the country. In 2007 TalkTalk stated it aimed to reach near-national coverage in the future, with 10 million homes by the end of 2008.

TV Services

The majority of standard UK channels (more than 60) are available, such as BBC One and BBC Two, as well as Premium channels such as Sky Movies and National Geographic Channel, depending on the selected package and corresponding price paid per month.

A wide selection of Video on Demand is also available, depending on the selected package. All customers have access to a channel-specific 'catch up' service which allows customers to view a selection of programmes up to seven days after they were initially broadcast, with on-screen controls available to play/pause or skip through the programme. Channels with the catch up service are: BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4, Fox, ITV, ITV2, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC Channel, Channel 5 and CBeebies. All catch up programmes available can also be accessed from channel 989.

On 13 February 2007, HBO announced its new VOD service was to become available on Tiscali TV. This was called "C1".

British Sky Broadcasting announced that it was to supply Tiscali TV with its 'Basic TV Package of channels: Sky1, Sky2, Sky Arts, Sky News and Sky Sports News.

These channels became available in the Tiscali TV variety pack on Tuesday 28 August 2007.

TalkTalk TV packages as of 2010 are:

References

  1. ↑ Parker, Andrew (20 October 2010). "TalkTalk to speed up plans for new television service". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "TalkTalk is Britain's fastest growing new TV service". TalkTalk Group. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  3. ↑ "The first rule of Film Club: TalkTalk axes Discovery and TLC to make way for new on-demand service". Recombu. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
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