Tiscali TV launching March 1st, based on expanding Homechoice service

Adding to the recent run of media companies joining together and re-branding, as they chase the consumer’s living room loyalty, Tiscali has annouced that from March 1st, the Homechoice service they took over in August last year will be re-branded Tiscali TV from March 1st.

They’ll be offering a basic package at £14.99 per month that will include broadband, a 30-channel TV selection, and a catch-up service for a selection of BBC channels and 100 hours of on-demand programming including US imports. Sky One won’t be included in the package.

One step up, the £19.99 per month package adds 25 more TV channels, and free weekend phone calls.

From July, a new set top box will be launched, featuring a 160GB hard drive and claiming to be high definition capable.

How popular the service becomes will depend in part on how far the service can roll out. With a much smaller coverage area than any of their rivals, they’ll have to aggressively expand if they want to compete across the UK. Major cities that will initially receive the service, thanks to Tiscali’s catchment area, are London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool.

Tiscali aims to be able to offer its services to 10m households by the end of the year, and their entire network by the end of 2008. Existing Homechoice customers will automatically become Tiscali TV subscribers on March 1st.

Tiscali