Hull ISP KC Helps Local Customers Connect their Smart TV to the Internet

KC (Karoo), the incumbent internet and phone provider for Hull and East Riding in Yorkshire (UK), has today launched a new KC Connect service that offers to send out an engineer to help owners of the latest Smart TV’s connect them to the internet. KC has also promised to double the usage allowance of any broadband customers who take the service.

A recent YouGov study claimed that a quarter of people who own Smart TV’s have never used them to go online, which is probably because they can’t see the point. Between desktop computers, laptops, Smartphone’s, PVR’s and Tablets there’s not a lot of need for surfing via your TV, especially if it was only supplied with a fiddly remote control (it took me 3 minutes just to type ISPreview.co.uk into mine).

The new service includes a visit from a KC engineer, who will connect the smart TV directly to the internet using Ethernet cables and hide “any messy wires away from view“. They’ll also check in-home telephone wiring and make any improvements needed to make sure the customer is getting the fastest possible broadband speeds. KC Connect can also be used with any other internet-enabled home entertainment equipment, such as Blu-Ray players, HD Freeview boxes and gaming consoles.

KC’s Nick Thompson said:

“Recent research by TV Licensing shows that the UK’s love affair with TV is still going strong, with the average person watching more than 30 hours each week

But what’s changing is the way people watch TV – catch-up and on-demand TV accounts for about 10% of all viewing these days, with BBC iPlayer alone attracting 1.8 million viewers every day. And people increasingly want to be able to watch catch-up TV on the big screen with perfect picture quality in the comfort of their living rooms, rather than hunched over a laptop or tablet computer.

KC Connect is the only service of its type in the UK. It means our customers can make the most of the explosion in online content that’s changing British viewing habits.”

So how much does it cost? From £6-£7 extra per month, according to KC’s website, which covers the cost of the engineer visit / work and your doubled usage allowance. Curiously there’s also a self-install option that appears to just include 2 Powerline adapters and the usage boost.

On the other hand those able to read a manual for their TV could probably benefit from a free self-install 🙂 . In fairness KC’s solution is quite unique and it could help some people out, although we’d like to see more details about how the costs scale and what people do when they want to cancel.