BSkyB and Tiscali in IPTV talks?

by Brian Turner

Digital satellite broadcaster, BSkyB, which is 39.1 percent-owned by News Corporation, is believed to be in advanced talks with telecoms company Tiscali to place BSkyB channels on Tiscali’s UK IPTV platform.

The deal is expected to give Tiscali, the owner of the UK internet television company HomeChoice, non-exclusive carriage of Sky One, Sky Sports News and Sky News.

BSkyB pulled its channels from Virgin Media’s platform at the end of February following a dispute over fees, but the deal with Tiscali is expected to give BSkyB a higher rate per subscriber than Virgin Media was willing to pay.

However Tiscali’s broadband customer base only numbers 1.48 million and not all of them are on IPTV.

BSkyB’s deal with Tiscali could also help to ease the competition concerns that currently surround BSkyB which recently purchased a 17.9 percent stake in ITV.

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