TalkTalk Buys Blinkbox And Tesco Broadband Business

TalkTalk has acquired video and audio streaming service Blinkbox from Tesco, along with the retailer’s broadband and landline customers for an undisclosed sum.

Blinkbox will be used to strengthen TalkTalk’s television service against rival offerings from the likes of Sky, BT and Virgin Media.

TalkTalk says it was attracted to Blinkbox’s expertise in delivering on-demand content to a number of devices and will allow it to offer a range of free and premium films and television programmes to customers.

TalkTalk Blinkbox deal

Currently, very little premium content is offered on TalkTalk TV, which has been bundled with broadband and landline services and is targeted at Freeview viewers who only want a minor upgrade. This approach has been successful, with 115,000 new television customers added during the most recent quarter.

“Since launch TalkTalk TV has demonstrated its popularity with value-seeking customers to become the UK’s fastest growing TV service,” says Dido Harding, TalkTalk CEO. “We are excited about the opportunity that Blinkbox’s platform and technology expertise bring, and which will significantly accelerate the development of our TV platform.”

Tesco has long been linked with the sale of the loss-making Blinkbox, which it acquired in 2011, and had formed part of the supermarket’s devices strategy. Pre-loaded Blinkbox apps came with the Hudl tablet, but the company scrapped plans for its own smartphone earlier this year.

As part of the deal, Blinkbox co-founder and CEO Adrian Letts will join TalkTalk as managing director for TV, while Tesco’s 75,000 broadband customers and 20,000 landline users will be transferred to TalkTalk accounts. TalkTalk also offers mobile services to customers and has plans to build an FTTP network with Sky and CityFibre that could eventually reach 60 percent of the UK population.

“The purchase of Tesco’s broadband base is another example of TalkTalk leveraging its national network to grow faster,” adds Harding. “We are excited about the future of quad-play – fixed phone and broadband, TV and mobile – and this acquisition will help to further drive home our value for money advantage.”

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