TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service, operated by the

TalkTalk Group TalkTalk Telecom Group Limited (formerly New TalkTalk plc from 2009–2010 and TalkTalk Telecom Group plc from 2010–2021; commonly known as TalkTalk Group, trading as TalkTalk) is a British telecommunications company that provides pay televi ...

. It originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with

YouView YouView TV Ltd is a British media company, a partnership of four broadcasters: the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5; and two telecommunications operators, BT Group and TalkTalk Group (formerly also Arqiva). It launched in 2012 the hybrid television ...

. Its

and

service is delivered over a BT phone line, using

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...

VDSL Very high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than the earlier standards of asymmetric digital subscriber li ...

. It provides

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is ...

and broadband internet access.

History

Launch as HomeChoice

While TalkTalk TV in its current form launched in 2012, its predecessor dates back to 2000 when the UK's first

service, HomeChoice, was launched, at first covering an area in north London. It was provided by Video Networks Limited (VNL), based in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

in London, which utilised high-speed

connections. By 2003, HomeChoice had just 3,000 subscribers, compared to

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

's 7 million and over 2 million each for both

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

and digital

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

operators. HomeChoice avoided bankruptcy and relaunched in 2004, striking a deal with BSkyB to provide

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

and

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on ...

to HomeChoice customers.

Purchase by Tiscali, then Carphone Warehouse

HomeChoice was purchased by

Tiscali Tessellis S.p.A. (formerly Tiscali S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company founded in 1998 and based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that provides Internet and telecommunications services in Italy, and, previously had operations in other Eur ...

UK in August 2006 and rebranded to Tiscali TV in February 2007, by which time it had 40,000 subscribers in areas of London and

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

. TalkTalk TV was initially only available in parts of London, Surrey and

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. By September 2007, central and northern England were TalkTalk TV-enabled. By 2011, 680

telephone exchange A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits ...

s were Tiscali LLU-enabled, mostly in London, Manchester, the Midlands and Yorkshire, with a smattering throughout the rest of the country. Access to the channels and to the video-on-demand was via a self branded

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

that was connected to the customer's

Television set A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...

. The final set-top box featured an Aerial socket and a

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Fe ...

receiver. A

wireless router A wireless router or Wi-Fi router is a device that performs the functions of a router and also includes the functions of a wireless access point. It is used to provide access to the Internet or a private computer network. Depending on the m ...

for internet access that connects to the set-top box was also provided. On 13 February 2007,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

announced C1, its new VOD service was to become available on Tiscali TV.

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...

announced that it was to supply Tiscali TV with its basic TV package including

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

Sky2 Sky Replay is a British pay television channel operated by Sky that began broadcasting in December 2002 as Sky One Mix. The channel was previously known as Sky Two from 2005 to 2020. The brand name and format had earlier been used for a sim ...

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

and

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...

. On 30 June 2009, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

approved a deal in which

Carphone Warehouse Carphone Warehouse is a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Wareh ...

would buy all the assets of Tiscali UK. As a result of Tiscali UK's acquisition, Tiscali TV was rebranded as TalkTalk TV in January 2010. TalkTalk TV however struggled to compete against Sky,

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

and BT's television services. On 20 October 2010, TalkTalk announced its plans to launch a new TV service in 2011, in a partnership with

. By the start of 2011, TalkTalk discontinued its existing TV service and removed it from the company's official site.

2012 relaunch as a YouView service

TalkTalk formally launched its YouView-based TV service in September 2012. As of May 2013, TalkTalk TV was Britain's fastest growing TV service. YouView launched a

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

player for new and existing Netflix customers. This is now on retail boxes and this launched on TalkTalk in late 2015. These boxes also allow access to

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

(DTT) signals using an additional aerial to watch

channels. Originally all its channels and content were available on the TalkTalk Player without any EPG channel numbers. On 7 August 2013, the channels became available on the YouView EPG, and were re-numbered in 2015. The company previously offered their service in two forms: TalkTalk TV Lite or TalkTalk TV Plus; where TalkTalk TV Plus has an enhanced pause/rewind capability.

2022 TV Hub launch

TalkTalk launched TV Hub in October 2022 which is powered by

Android TV Android TV is an operating system that runs on smart TVs and related entertainment devices including soundbars, set-top boxes, and digital media players. Developed by Google, it is a closed-source Android distribution. Android TV features a u ...

and based on technology developed with YouView.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes, list1= {{UK Based TV on demand {{Media in the United Kingdom, television {{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom {{CATV Europe {{VOD services TV British companies established in 2000 Mass media companies established in 2000 Companies based in Salford Television broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Digital television in the United Kingdom Video on demand services