Sky Digital plans to launch broadband TV service

by Staff, Brand Republic 20-Jun-05, 15:15

LONDON - BSkyB is to unveil plans for a broadband television service later this week, which will enable subscribers to download movie and sports programmes over the internet.

It will mark Sky's first major move into broadband internet television, which is being hailed as the new battleground for commercial TV companies.

The move comes as UK cable company Telewest begins the rollout of its video-on-demand services and broadband companies like HomeChoice offer a raft of television and telephone services over broadband in the London area.

From autumn, subscribers to Sky's top-tier package will be able to sign up to the new service, which will initially be given away free.

It will take about two hours to download a two-hour film over a typical high-speed internet connection.

The proposition has been set up to boost Sky's subscribers to 10m by 2010, a target set by James Murdoch, chief executive of BSkyB.

Sky put on 95,000 additional subscribers in its third quarter, taking it to 7.7m subscribers.

Sky will market the service as yet another improvement for its customers, following the launch of the Sky+ box in 2001. Sky+ allows users to record programmes to a hard disc and watch them when they choose.

An full announcement is expected later this week.

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