Tiscali UK has announced its intention to expand their HomeChoice based broadband TV (IPTV) service beyond the confines of London, Surrey and Hertfordshire. Instead the ISP is seeking to attract 500,000 customers by taking the service national in a fiercely competitive market.

The package, which is designed to target users that want more channels than Freeview (tm) can provide but not the overkill of cable or satellite operators, aims to combine its TV offer with broadband and line rental (triple play). Popular BSkyB channel 'Sky One' is also included.

Naturally the technology utilises Tiscali's own unbundled (LLU) broadband infrastructure, which should be able to reach roughly 10 million homes by Christmas. The line rental, broadband and TV bundles come in two flavours, which we've summarised below:

The 'up to' 2Mbps Option
* TV Variety Pack - over 60 TV & radio channels such as ITV2, Sky One and Paramount
* Over 350 on demand programmes
* Instant access to over 1,000 movies
* Free 7 day BBC, C4 and FX catch up service
* Includes all UK and international weekend calls
* Free phone line rental
* Free set top box and free wireless router included
* £30 setup fee

£19.99 per month

The 'up to' 8Mbps Option
* TV Variety Pack - over 60 TV & radio channels such as ITV2, Sky One and Paramount
* Over 350 on demand programmes
* Instant access to over 1,000 movies
* Free 7 day BBC, C4 and FX catch up service
* Includes all UK and international anytime calls
* Free phone line rental
* Free set top box and free wireless router included
* £30 setup fee

£24.99 per month

Typically the primary differences between packages are the speeds and call options, otherwise the offers both appear to be identical with the usual "unlimited" broadband marketing attached to a vague Fair Usage Policy (FUP). It's noted that an extra £22 per month will also get you the Sky Sports channels.

Tiscali UK currently has roughly 50,000 customers on its Internet TV service, which places it in a similar field to BT's struggling rival BT Vision product. Tiscali will need to be wary of the heavy usage such a product could place on its network, which could cause congestion and slow speeds. They’re not exactly the highest rated UK ISP either but have seen some small improvements.