UPDATE ISP TalkTalk Shifts UK Off-net TV Only Customers to Rakuten TV

Broadband ISP TalkTalk has announced that their remaining base of “off-net” TV only (previously Blinkbox) customers, which may also include some broadband and TV subscribers that have not synced accounts, are having their TV service moved over to the third-party Rakuten TV platform.

Apparently these “off-net transactional customers” will be able to continue enjoying their previously purchased films and TV programmes as they become customers of Rakuten TV, although the announcement adds some ominous “where available” wording that could cause concern for a few people.

In digging a little deeper we found a short Q&A, which additionally states that: “Your content may be impacted. We will inform you of the details in due course. We are working with Rakuten to make sure that you have maximum availability of your library. In any instances this is not possible a fair compensation will be offered by Rakuten” (it’s unclear what approach they will take to calculating that).

The customer base in question is largely made up of those who do NOT take TalkTalk’s on-net broadband and YouView (IPTV) based TV service bundles, although it’s noted that a few bundled users could still be affected. The ISP simply states: “TalkTalk broadband and TV customers who were either former blinkbox users or TalkTalk TV Store users before they signed up to a TalkTalk broadband and TV plan may also be affected if they have not synced accounts” (i.e. your broadband won’t be affected but your TV service will shift to Rakuten TV).

Otherwise this change generally should not impact TalkTalk’s wider on-net broadband and TV subscriber base, save for the above exception. In any case the ISP said that affected customers would be contacted ahead of their migration to Rakuten TV. The switch itself is expected to begin soon and will then complete by no later than 31st July 2018.

In addition, TalkTalk added that existing users of Rakuten TV will be able to “merge” their libraries, albeit only provided that their TalkTalk and Rakuten TV accounts use the same e-mail address. We suspect that a small number of people might fall foul of this one but there’s still time for end-users to update their details.

The ISP claims that Rakuten’s platform is able to support more devices and “you’ll have the option to purchase titles in higher quality.”

UPDATE 17th May 2018

Fast forward one month and today Rakuten TV has put out their own press release to confirm the development, which they claim will help them to become one of the leading platforms in video-on-demand, reaching over 3 million users in the UK.

Overall the announcement doesn’t add anything new to what we’ve already reported above but they did include a quote.

Josep Mitjà, COO and Co-Founder of Rakuten TV, said:

“We are delighted to grow the Rakuten TV business in the UK with this acquisition and are thrilled to provide this new cohort of off-net transactional customers with the ultimate home cinema experience which can’t be beaten elsewhere and with the latest cinema releases directly into homes. We are confident that users will love the choice in content and the quality in which they can experience cinema at home with Rakuten TV.”