Orange TV trials go national

Orange has taken its trials for TV over broadband to the whole country, and the technology is understood to be ready for launch.

The service was initially set for launch last summer after being trialled in Leeds; however, the launch was put back to ‘late 2007’ and is still being trialled.

Orange has been unwilling to give a new target launch date, but the operator claims it is still keen to pursue the service that has been such a hit for Orange in France.

The service links broadband and TV, offering customers on-demand films and other content.

However, analysts have said that Orange will find it much tougher to launch in the UK because of Sky’s stranglehold on TV content in the UK, and Virgin’s grip on cable infrastructure which has made it a strong ‘number two’ in the UK subscription TV market.

BT Vision, which offers a similar service to the one Orange is proposing, has struggled to reach a mass market despite deals with sports channel Setanta.