Tiscali on demand service gets a boost from 4oD’s partners

It seems that ‘on demand’ has earned the title of Industry Buzzphrase 2007 already. As well as launching a digital TV service based on the successful Homechoice platform, Tiscali have recently announced with great fanfare, the availability of its Movies Now on demand service from its website, a la BT‘s BT Vision service, and other on demand five.tv, BBC, 4oD, etc. The service has been in existence for a while, but a recent deal with Arts Alliance Media – the same company who work with Channel 4 to provide 4oD – has seen the service flush with new content.

Tiscali, hoping to cash in on the popularity of online TV sites such as YouTube, tv-links, and Joost, have made this service available to broadband customers. Alex Hole, online media director at Tiscali UK, said that “there is a real consumer hunger for on-demand media and entertainment. Tiscali has been offering films on-demand for some time, but we are now pleased to offer a comprehensive top quality catalogue that includes new and classic blockbusters.”

PC owners can download content from an exhaustive archive which includes blockbuster movies, sporting events, National Geographic documentaries, to rent or buy from as little as 99p with recent movie releases being charged from £2.99. It is expected that the service will be rolled out to Mac users in the future, although there are no official noises on this as of yet.

There have also been recent rumours of Tiscali sniffing round the cooling remains of Pipex, although their official line on this is that ‘Tiscali never comments on market speculation.’

Pipex, which started looking for a buyer this March are expected to make an announcement on the situation sometime in the summer.

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