Tiscali has now officially become part of the TalkTalk family, which means that Tiscali subscribers can finally breathe a sigh of relief. A new page entitled ‘My Tiscali’ has appeared on the Tiscali website, and it states that:

“We would like to re-assure you that all your services and products will continue as normal and without interruption and, importantly, your existing email addresses will remain the same.

Once the sale is complete, TalkTalk very much look forward to welcoming Tiscali customers, and assure Tiscali customers that your service will continue as it is today.”

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Orange have pulled out of plans to buy up the catch-up TV service that went by the working titled of Project Kangaroo. France Telecom, Orange’s parent company had this to say in the following statement:

“We can confirm that we are not pursuing our interest in the catch-up TV service Kangaroo. After in-depth due diligence, we concluded that it was unlikely that an outcome which benefited France Telecom’s Orange operations would be met.”

The ill-fated Project Kangaroo is a collaboration between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and was conceived as a kind of merger of the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4oD video on demand platforms. First of all it was blocked from going ahead by the Competition Commission, which ruled that it would be too much of a threat to competition in the IPTV market, currently only occupied by BT Vision and Tiscali TV.

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As well as offering Tiscali customers thinking of switching to Sky a free Sky+ box and £50 Credit, Sky are now giving everyone else the opportunity to qualify for free Sky+ with a Sky TV package if they switch from their current broadband provider, and take up the full line up of Sky’s services.

Normally costing you £49 when you sign up for Sky TV, the Sky+ box allows you to pause, record and rewind live TV. With Sky Active, you can also set your Sky+ box to record from your desktop at work or anywhere in the home thanks to the Remote Record service.

If you’re already with Sky and have the standard Sky Broadband Base package, then you can also benefit from upgrading to the Sky Broadband Mid and Max packages.

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TalkTalk/Carphone Warehouse has released a list of FAQ’s (complete with answers) that they’ve been receiving from Tiscali customers since news of the buyout was announced a couple of weeks back. The blog post is keen to stress that, although Tiscali has accepted TalkTalk’s offer, they “don’t own Tiscali yet. We’ve had our offer accepted and, subject to EU approval, it will be signed off at the end of June.”

It turns out that the Tiscali TV service will continue to run as normal, so those of you who were worried about this service suddenly disappearing can rest easy. It also looks as though contracts signed with Tiscali before the acquisition will remain binding for their duration. Billing arrangements are also to remain the same for the time being.

TalkTalk, who are understood to have been in talks with the increasingly unpopular Phorm have also said that there are no plans to introduce Phorm’s tracking software to any of their customers, including Tiscali.

Click on the link below for the full list of questions and answers, which was first published over on the TalkTalk blog.

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Despite broadband news this week being largely dominated by the Carphone Warehouse takeover of Tiscali, BT Broadband has just announced figures that reveal that it is still top dog in the UK broadband stakes.

The broadband provider BT claims that its customer base has increased to 4.8 million, keeping it head and shoulders above the competition. The Tiscali buyout saw Carphone Warehouse leapfrog Virgin Media into second place, with its customer base swelling to 4.25 million - impressive, but still not enough to pip the British Broadband crown from BT.

Today also saw the publication of Tiscali’s results for the last quarter, which saw the troubled company steadily losing subscribers right up until the deal with Carphone was done.

The figures released show that BT Vision now has 423,000 customers, up from 398,000 on the last quarter. Use of BT’s Openzone Wi-Fi minutes, amounts of which are bundled free with BT Broadband packages, has also increased by 80 per cent over the last 12 months.

Tiscali has just released its latest list of figures for the last quarter, which shows a steady decline in subscribers from nearly 1.76 million at the end of last year, to 1.7 million at the end of Q1 2009 (31st of March).

This news comes just a week after it was announced that TalkTalk and AOL owners Carphone Warehouse bought the UK arm of the Italian firm, which was struggling with debt repayments, for £263 million, £20 million of which went towards clearing debts, according to the press release found here (PDF).

It is thought that once the transaction is complete next month, Tiscali subscribers will be migrated to the TalkTalk network and be offered the basic TalkTalk Essentials service (8Mbps speeds, 40GB download limit, Evening & Weekend calls) as standard.

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Sky has just launched a great promotional offer that is exclusively available to Tiscali broadband customers. From now until the 11th of June, Tiscali subscribers who switch to Sky Broadband will receive £50 credit, and will get a free Sky+ box thrown into the bargain.

This seems like a really good deal, as no-one really knows whats going to be happen with all those Tiscali TV boxes in June, when TalkTalk are supposedly migrating Tiscali customers. Plus, it sees punters making a saving of £99; £49 that you’d normally pay for the Sky+ box, plus the £50 credit.

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It’s a bit short of and decidedly less tasty than Heinz’s famous 57 Varieties, but ISP TalkTalk has just launched a list of 47 Reasons why you should sign up for its broadband and phone services.

Some of the listed 47 Reasons include:

• Fantastically low cost calls

• Free wireless router

• Min 40GB monthly usage limit

• Commitment to always be cheaper than BT

They could have included on the list those ‘Human Animations’ adverts that bookend ITV Mystery Drama shows, and the fact that they share a name with a critically lauded proto-post rock pop group who shot to fame with the song ‘It’s My Life’, which was later covered by Gwen Stefani.

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After about a year of negotiations and will-they-wont-they speculation, Carphone Warehouse has finally snapped up Tiscali’s UK operations for a cool £263 million. This purchase means that Carphone has leapfrogged Virgin Media to become the second largest ISP in the UK, with some 4.25 million broadband subscribers.

More importantly, the buyout means that Tiscali customers, concerned that they may lose their connection can rest easy. It was thought that Tiscali had racked up debts of €500 million across the Continent, and rumours of the group going into administration had subscribers understandably worried.

Tiscali UK CEO Mary Turner said: “It’s good news for our customers who will increasingly benefit from a group that has consistently championed best value and award-winning customer service.”

Carphone Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone also said: “It has been the longest deal I have ever worked on. I think it has been hard for the shareholders of Tiscali because during the process we had the collapse of the banking world and then the decline in the pound to the euro so we think this price is low.”

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After reports of Tiscali falling into some serious financial difficulty, it has emerged that TalkTalk and AOL owners Carphone Warehouse are rumoured to be plotting a last minute takeover bid.

Carphone were once frontrunners for a Tiscali takeover bid launched last year, which fell through at the last minute. Sky then stepped into the bidding war, stumping up £450 million for the Tiscali’s UK services, but again, negotiations deteriorated before a deal could be worked out.

Last September, a Carphone buyout of Tiscali would have seen its joint subscriber base swell to a massive 4.6 million, overtaking BT at the head of the British Broadband league table. A Sky purchase would have seen the satellite broadcaster become the third biggest ISP, with its customer base rising to 3.6 million.

Tiscali are some €500 million in the hole, and as the credit crunch continues to bite, the lenders of Europe are calling for their pound of flesh. After Tiscali revealed that its shares have been suspended on the Italian stock market following a 50 per cent tumble, it asked lenders to freeze debts in order to “allow a period of suspension for interest repayments and financial covenants,” according to a piece in the Telegraph.

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