UK satellite broadcaster Sky recently entered the broadband war with its long-awaited free broadband package. Its broadband service will be launched in August and will be available to Sky customers only.
A month later however, from September 1, NTL will be offering its customers a free TV service for all home phone customers, which it claims is superior to Freeview. NTL’s TV service offers free subscription, no installation or connection charges, access to services such as video on demand, and is available to any new fixed-line customer. It will cost new customers 11 pounds ($20.23) a month, which is the price of its Talk Weekend package that allows unlimited local and national calls at weekends.
NTL has also taking the wraps off its quad-play service (mobile, fixed-line, internet, and TV), which it said would be marketed four for 40 pounds ($73.60) and should be available before the end of October. NTL said the quad-play offering will allow consumers to mix and match the number of services they subscribe to, costing 20 pounds ($36.80) for two, 30 pounds ($55.20) for three, or 40 pounds ($73.60) for four.
These latest offerings from the Hook, UK-based UK cable giant is an attempt to secure much-needed market share as it faces rising competition. Although NTL will soon be able to offer a quad-play service, unlike its UK rivals it is still limited to the geographical reach of its cable network.
For example, over 7.1 million households in the UK currently have Freeview, while Sky has 8.1 million households. Both of these do not require a cable network. Only 3.3 million homes in the UK have cable.
