BSkyB Ready to ‘Picnic’ In the U.K.

[10-02-07 – Satellite Today]  BSkyB plans to offer broadband, telephone and digital terrestrial television (DTT) services in a single package as the satellite operator looks to tap into the strong DTT market in the United Kingdom, BSkyB announced Oct. 1.

The offering, dubbed Picnic, will provide customers a range of TV, broadband and telephony services. Freeview, the DTT offering, has more than 8 million customers in the United Kingdom. Customers will need a next generation set-top box to access the service, and BSkyB hopes these new boxes will help to lead future innovations on the DTT platform such as the adoption of MPEG-4 compression standards.

The offer is subject to Ofcom’s review of the proposed increased choice of TV programming. Ofcom has said that it plans to launch a consultation on the initial licence changes in the third quarter.