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Sky proposes new flexible broadband, phone and TV services

Sky has announced a new range of flexible services that allow users to pick and choose between Broadband, Phone and TV services.

The services will be offered with a range of new digital set-top boxes to come under a new brand called Picnic.  The key difference between this and existing broadband, phone and TV packages is that no Sky TV subscription is required.  Instead, Picnic will offer combinations of broadband, telephone and digital terrestrial television (DTT).

The set-top boxes will offer access to freeview channels with the option of other channels including Sky Sports 1, Sky Movies, Sky One, a children’s channel and a factual channel.   Picnic compatible boxes are set to be produced by various manufacturers, with Sagem pencilled in as the initial manufacturer.

Sky is hoping to increase the number of channels available with DTT by adopting MPEG-4 compression standards, which basically allow them to stream more channels compared to standard MPEG-2.

The Picnic service is set to complete with TV offerings from BT (BT Vision) and Tiscali TV, who all offer broadband with TV services.  The launch of Picnic is dependant on the outcome of an Ofcom review of the proposed increase of TV programming.

James Murdoch, Sky’s Chief Executive, said:  “The launch of Picnic will be a big step forward for customers who are hungry for value and simplicity.  We are looking forward to the conclusion of the regulatory approval process so we can get going delivering a great service and real savings to customers.”