O2 UK IPTV service
December 18, 2007
Mobile phone company O2 is seeking to extend deals with media companies such as Warner Bros and Paramount as it aims to bring its TV service to the UK.
The company, owned by Spain’s Telefónica, already has a residential broadband offering in the UK after acquiring Be Broadband a year ago. It now wants to add a IPTV service with trials starting next year. If successful, a full commercial launch could follow by the end of that year. It is using as a blueprint its service in the Czech Republic, where O2 owns both a fixed line and mobile phone operator. O2 TV offers 55 channels and has video on demand content from Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, Disney, Paramount and HBO. It recently reported 70,000 subscribers for the Czech service.
An O2 IPTV service will pitch the company up against its former parent BT, whose BT Vision hybrid Freeview and video-on-demand service has attracted 100,000 customers.