Tiscali, the broadband provider, will launch its Tiscali TV internet television service in March, as the battle to win customers in the pay-TV market intensifies.
The launch will follow the rebranding of NTL, the cable group, as Virgin Media this week. BT is also planning a marketing push for BT Vision, which was launched at the end of last year, in the next few weeks.
Tiscali and Virgin Media, which is offering the UK's first "four play" package with pay television, land-line telephony, broadband and mobile phone services, will go head-to-head in the pay-TV market with British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite television group.
Tiscali, which acquired Homechoice last August, will offer its broadband and TV service for £14.99 as well as a "triple play" package that will include telephony.
BSkyB is also facing competition from Setanta, the Irish sports pay-TV service that has launched on Freeview with Premier football and US golf offerings. Premium sport programmes are the main drivers for pay-TV take up and Setanta is already available on satellite and cable and will launch on BT Vision later this year.
The "bundle" war, where companies such as Carphone Warehouse and Orange offer a package of services such as broadband, pay television and mobile phones, is expected to heat up, with margins falling for operators as customers choose from a range of packages.
Tiscali TV will have 40,000 subscribers it inherited from Homechoice. The service is currently available in London and Stevenage but will roll out in other areas including Leeds and Liverpool by the middle of the year. By the end of 2007, Tiscali TV expects to have a network available to more than 10m homes.
The Tiscali TV offers consumers more than 30 digital channels including all of the free digital channels from the BBC, Channel 4, Five and ITV. Its subscribers have access to a "replay or catch-up" service allowing them to watch more than 50 hours of key BBC programmes up to seven days after they have been broadcast, and access to a further 100 hours of on-demand programming. Tiscali TV is delivered by a land line broadband connection.
