Vodafone TV is now available in the United Kingdom, bringing together Freely with online video services and other entertainment through a set-top box powered by Netgem. It marks the latest attempt by Vodafone to add television to its connectivity proposition, more than a decade after it first planned to launch a television service in the United Kingdom.

The service is available to Vodafone mobile or broadband customers, directly from Vodafone and through Currys stores nationwide. Customers switching both their broadband and television service can receive credit of up to £300 towards early termination charges, while the broadband connection can be transferred using the One Touch Switch process.

Vodafone says its research found that more than a third of people had not changed their television provider in the last five years, with the perceived inconvenience of switching and concerns about exit fees among the reasons.

“Households are dealing with a TV set-up that’s become far too complicated,” said Rob Winterschladen, Consumer Director, VodafoneThree, citing “multiple apps, long channel bundles and services they often don’t use”.

“Vodafone TV gives customers a smarter alternative: one simple, intuitive experience that brings their favourite entertainment together and helps them cut out unnecessary costs.”

The television service is offered on a 24-month commitment. The basic package starts at £10 a month, while Vodafone TV Essential costs £17 a month and includes the advertising-supported versions of Netflix and HBO Max.

Freely is built into the platform, providing more than 70 live channels and on-demand programming from the main British broadcasters over an internet connection, without requiring an aerial or satellite dish. Other streaming applications are available through the Google Play Store.

As informitv previously reported, the Vodafone TV service is powered by Netgem, based on its PLEIO platform. That enables Vodafone to offer a branded television proposition without developing its own television platform.

It is not the first time that Vodafone has had ambitions to offer television in the United Kingdom.

More than a decade ago, Vodafone was building a fixed broadband and television business across Europe as part of a strategy to become a full-service communications provider.

By 2015 it already had 11.3 million broadband customers and 9.1 million television customers across Europe. Its annual report that year said it would launch consumer broadband in the United Kingdom within weeks, “with TV to follow later in 2015”.

The broadband service duly launched in June 2015, but the television service did not.

The planned launch was repeatedly delayed. In 2016, Vodafone finally put its British television plans on hold, saying its focus was on growing broadband and that it would look at launching television “when we deem it necessary and commercially appropriate”.

Vodafone subsequently experimented with a lighter approach to television and entertainment. In 2020 its Vodafone Together proposition combined unlimited mobile data and home broadband with an Apple TV 4K and a year of Apple TV+. Customers could also add entertainment packages.

Six years later, Vodafone has concluded that a more complete television proposition is commercially appropriate after all.

The difference is that it does not require the level of commitment that might once have been associated with launching a television platform.

Vodafone is not investing in its own television delivery platform or commissioning exclusive programming. Netgem provides the underlying television platform and set-top box proposition, while Freely provides the internet-delivered free television offer from the main British broadcasters. Global streaming services provide much of the premium programming.

Vodafone can concentrate on providing the connectivity, packaging the services and managing the customer relationship.

That potentially makes television a relatively limited and low-risk extension of its existing business. Distribution through Currys also takes the proposition beyond Vodafone’s own stores and online sales channels and places it in front of consumers shopping for televisions and other home entertainment products.

It nevertheless puts Vodafone into more direct competition with established television providers including Sky, Virgin Media and BT, particularly as television distribution increasingly moves online.

The use of Freely is significant in that respect. Freely is designed to make the main British television services freely available over an internet connection. Vodafone demonstrates that the same platform can also form the free-to-air foundation of a commercial television bundle.

There is nothing particularly novel about free television channels forming part of a pay television proposition. Freeview channels have long been available alongside subscription services. What is different is that the entire proposition can now be delivered over an internet connection, without Vodafone needing its own broadcast distribution infrastructure.

It also makes changing provider potentially easier. A customer moving broadband and television services no longer necessarily needs a new aerial, satellite installation or cable connection. Vodafone is explicitly addressing the remaining contractual obstacle by offering to contribute towards the cost of leaving another provider.

For many years the rise of standalone streaming services appeared to weaken the traditional idea of triple play. Consumers could buy broadband from one provider and subscribe independently to entertainment services delivered through applications on almost any connected television.

Yet the move to internet delivery may also make the television component of the bundle easier for communications providers to offer.

A provider no longer needs to own a television network, develop a proprietary platform or invest substantially in programming. It can combine connectivity with third-party technology, free television and subscription streaming services, while providing a single interface and customer relationship.

Vodafone may therefore be returning to an old idea through a rather different model.

More than a decade after it first planned to add television to its British broadband business, Vodafone TV has finally launched. Perhaps the concept of triple play was not dead after all. It may simply have been waiting for television to become another service delivered over the internet.

www.vodafone.com

BT is bringing back the BT TV brand, less than three years after it became EE TV. The name may be returning, but the proposition is even more familiar. BT TV is not so much a new television service as the latest iteration of a proposition that BT has been pursuing for two decades. We may have seen this movie before.

The return of BT TV follows the re-emergence of BT as a consumer brand. BT had previously designated EE as its flagship consumer brand, with BT TV becoming EE TV in 2023. BT is now once again using its longstanding name to sell broadband and other services directly to consumers.

BT Customers will have a choice of two boxes. The BT TV Box Pro combines streaming with the ability to pause and rewind live television and record over 600 hours of programming. The smaller BT TV Box Edge is intended for customers who prefer a simpler streaming experience, providing access to on-demand and catch-up programming.

Both boxes offer a single search experience across multiple services, addressing what BT sees as the increasing complexity of television as viewers navigate between live channels, streaming services and subscriptions.

“Finding something great to watch shouldn’t mean navigating a maze of apps, subscriptions and devices,” said Luciano Oliveira, the managing director of products for the consumer division of BT. “We’ve designed BT TV to bring customers’ entertainment and sport together, making it easier to find what they love, and giving them the freedom to watch live, record their favourites and catch-up when it suits them.”

“Combined with BT broadband, it gives customers a simpler, more complete connected experience from the provider they know and trust.”

It is not the first time that BT has sought to establish its brand in television.

In 2006, BT announced that its forthcoming broadband video service would be called BT Vision. It promised a combination of digital terrestrial television, broadband video on demand, catch-up television and digital video recording.

BT called it a world first combining digital terrestrial channels through an aerial with broadband video on demand. Unlike conventional pay television services, there was no mandatory monthly television subscription, although it initially required a BT Broadband connection.

The service was launched commercially in 2007, supported by a multimillion-pound marketing campaign. BT hoped to capitalise on the popularity of Freeview by adding broadband-delivered programming to free-to-air television.

BT had ambitious expectations for the service. By the end of 2007 it had 150,000 customers. BT nevertheless reiterated its longer-term ambition of between two and three million customers in what it defined as the medium term of three to five years.

Growth proved considerably slower. It took until 2014 to pass a million television customers. BT subsequently invested heavily in sports rights and rebranded BT Vision as BT TV.

The last reported figure was 1.74 million television customers. In 2018, after two consecutive quarters of decline, BT stopped reporting television subscriber numbers as a key performance indicator.

Two decades after the launch of BT Vision, the technology of television has changed substantially, but the basic consumer proposition is remarkably similar.

Then, BT offered broadband customers a box that combined broadcast television with on-demand programming delivered over an internet connection. Now it offers broadband customers a box that brings together live television, streaming services, premium programming and sport.

The new BT TV is much more clearly an internet television proposition. BT introduced an aerial-free internet mode for its Box Pro in 2022, allowing live channels to be received over broadband, although the box can still receive terrestrial television through an aerial.

That places BT TV in an increasingly interesting relationship with Freely, the internet television platform backed by the main British public service broadcasters.

Freely also offers live and on-demand television over broadband without requiring an aerial or satellite dish. Initially integrated into selected smart televisions, Freely is now also available through streaming devices that can be connected to existing television sets.

The two propositions approach the transition to internet television from different directions. Freely starts with free-to-air television and seeks to reproduce and extend that experience over broadband, independent of the internet service provider. BT TV starts with the broadband customer and seeks to make television another reason to choose and remain with BT.

That could make the commercial objectives of the second coming of BT TV rather different from those of BT Vision.

BT no longer needs to establish an entirely new television platform to compete for millions of subscribers with Sky and Virgin Media. Television can instead add value to the broadband relationship, helping BT retain customers while providing opportunities to sell entertainment, sport and other subscription services.

There is also much more competition for the role of television aggregator. Smart television operating systems routinely present multiple streaming applications and services, while Freely offers an increasingly complete internet-delivered free television proposition without tying viewers to a particular broadband provider.

So the prospects for BT TV may depend less on how many television customers it can acquire than on whether it can make BT broadband more attractive and valuable to the households that already buy it.

Twenty years ago, consumers faced a growing choice of broadcast channels, pay television and emerging broadband video services. BT proposed bringing them together in one box.

Today, they face live television, streaming applications, subscription services and sport spread across an expanding range of services and devices. BT is once again proposing to bring them together in one box.

The delivery technology has changed almost beyond recognition. The challenge of making television simple apparently has not.

www.bt.com

Amazon has introduced a new Fire TV Stick 4K, running its Vega operating system and promising faster access to programming than the built-in interfaces of leading smart televisions. This suggests that even as almost every television sold today is smart, there may still be a role for relatively inexpensive plug-in products that can upgrade the viewing experience.

The new Fire TV Stick 4K has a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor, supports Wi-Fi 6, 4K Ultra HD, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and runs Vega OS, the Linux-based operating system that Amazon is introducing across its Fire TV products.

Amazon says the device starts up to 20% faster than the previous Fire TV Stick 4K and launches applications up to 35% faster. The company says playback begins nearly 20% faster than on a similarly priced competing streaming stick. Amazon also compared the device with three top-selling 4K smart televisions and says the Fire TV Stick 4K started playing programming faster than all three.

The device can be powered directly from a USB port on a compatible television, avoiding the need for a separate power adapter. Amazon previously introduced its Direct Power feature on the Fire TV Stick HD but has now extended it to the 4K model. A supplied USB-C cable connects the stick to a USB-A port on the television.

Amazon has also redesigned the Fire TV remote control. Rather than being symmetrical, it has a flat top and a curved, weighted bottom, intended to make it immediately apparent which way up it is when picked up.

The buttons use different shapes, contours and textures to make them easier to identify by touch. The Home button has a distinctive metallic finish, while a programmable star button can provide a shortcut to a favourite application or accessibility function. The new remote is also available separately and is compatible with Fire TV streaming devices released since 2019.

The emphasis on speed is significant because Amazon is not simply comparing its latest product with previous streaming sticks. By benchmarking it against smart televisions, the company is implicitly making a case for replacing the software experience built into the television.

Television displays can remain perfectly serviceable for many years. The computing platform may not age so well. Applications become more demanding, operating systems develop and processors that appeared adequate when the television was purchased can increasingly make the interface feel slow.

That creates an inherent tension in the smart television model. Integrating everything into the television provides an elegant experience when it is new, but it also ties a rapidly evolving software platform to a comparatively long-lived piece of consumer electronics.

A streaming stick separates the two. For a relatively modest cost, viewers can replace the processor, operating system, applications and user interface without replacing the display. Direct USB power makes that upgrade increasingly unobtrusive, while the redesigned remote replaces the principal physical interface as well.

That has implications for television manufacturers. Companies have increasingly regarded their smart television operating systems as strategic platforms through which they can control discovery, distribute applications, sell advertising and maintain a continuing relationship with viewers.

If a consumer connects a Fire TV Stick and spends most of their viewing time within Amazon’s interface, much of that relationship moves from the television manufacturer to Amazon. The television increasingly becomes a display for somebody else’s platform.

As plug-in products become faster, cheaper and easier to upgrade, they may continue to provide a cost-effective way to keep an otherwise perfectly good television current.

The question for television manufacturers is how long they can keep the smart part of a smart television smart.

www.amazon.com