Advanced Television

Canvas or Tiscali TV for Talk Talk?

July 15, 2009

Charles Dunstone, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse (owner of Talk Talk and Tiscali UK) is studying whether its Talk Talk phone and broadband business should expand Tiscali's TV service and whether that would be via Canvas or the existing platform.

Carphone completed its deal to buy Tiscali's UK assets for £236m (E275m) last week, including Tiscali TV, a service that provides customers with Freeview channels and video-on-demand content.

Dunstone has previously made sceptical noises about becoming a TV provider but told the FT it was not planning immediately to "switch off" Tiscali TV, which has just 50,000 customers. He said Talk Talk was considering participating in the BBC-led project Canvas, and also developing Tiscali TV. "We might say Canvas isn't the answer and we will go and reinvigorate Tiscali TV."

Talk Talk is the UK's second biggest broadband provider. BT, Carphone's main telephone rival, launched a TV service in 2007.

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