TalkTalk Confirms Plan to “revamp” its UK Mobile TV Service and Content

At the start of this year we reported that TalkTalk were working on a “completely new” Mobile TV solution in order to replace or improve their TV Player app (here). The ISP has now confirmed this “large-scale update” and revealed some of its planned improvements.

The TalkTalk TV Player app has tended to receive mixed ratings (here and here) and their earlier TV2Go app was even worse (here). So a change was long overdue and the ISP has now moved to improve matters by extending their partnership with CSG International and integrating the digital cloud-based / SaaS (Software as a Service) platform Ascendon™.

We note that Virgin Media, Three UK and Vodafone also use technology from the same company, so it’s easy to see why TalkTalk chose to go down the same path. The provider claims that this update will benefit all 1.3 million of their TV customers by offering a “more streamlined platform, to make it easier for customers to find everything they want to watch in one place“.

Apparently subscribers will also benefit from several new app features, such as the ability to pre-order films and a new “Season Pass” feature (this provides access to multiple box sets in a single purchase). However TalkTalk declined to offer any further details and stated that more information would be released in the “coming months.”

Aleks Habdank, Managing Director of TalkTalk TV, said:

“This is an exciting new partnership for TalkTalk TV and one that will enable us to accelerate our mobile viewing offering. The integration of the Ascendon platform complements a number of recent innovations aimed at delivering a faster, more intuitive and seamless TV experience.

We led the market by being the first provider to roll out the Next Generation YouView [broadband IPTV platform] upgrade, which the majority of our customers are already enjoying, and earlier this month, TalkTalk was named TV Provider of the Year in a public vote. We’re looking forward to customers being able to enjoy even more of the entertainment they love, whenever and wherever they want, both in and out of the home.”

The roll-out of this major new update is due to commence this Summer 2017.