EE to launch TV set-top box

Everything Everywhere, the UK’s biggest mobile operator, is to launch a set-top box in a bid to take on rivals including BSkyB, YouView, Freeview and Freesat.
The box, understood to be offered to customers for free as part of a broadband package, will offer a service on par with YouView, which Orange, now a part of EE, had looked into buying when it was known as Project Kangaroo.

EE subsequently held talks about joining the YouView consortium, but no deal ever materialised, and the company has now decided to launch its own service. Expected to be free with an EE home broadband subscription, or for £9.95 per month for mobile-only customers, it will offer over 70 Freeview channels, and a range of on-demand and catch-up services.

EE hopes to cash in on the success of TalkTalk in particular, whose £8.50 per month TV package has helped it build a base of more than 1 million TV customers in the past two years.