Budget broadband ISP TalkTalk has today launched a new Android TV powered ‘TV Hub‘ box for UK customers seeking to take a Pay TV product alongside their “Full Fibre” (FTTP) internet connectivity packages, which will cost from just £5 a month to add to your package (plus a £25 one-off fee).
At this point some readers might be scratching their heads, since it wasn’t long ago that TalkTalk introduced a new TV set-top-box by adopting the Netgem TV platform (here) and the new box has many of the same features. But a quick look on the provider’s website suggests that the Netgem kit is now being targetted at their “superfast fibre” subscribers (speeds below 100Mbps), while the new TV Hub is intended for their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) base (speeds of 150Mbps+).
Speaking of features, the TV Hub offers over 70 live TV channels, catch-up services (e.g. BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub), a wide range of streaming & subscription services (e.g. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and NOW TV), plus Google Play with over 10,000 apps, access to Google Assistant (voice search, smart controls etc.), Ultra HD 4K, Dolby Atmos sound compatible and Chromecast built in™. But there’s no mention of HDR.
TalkTalk doesn’t attach any lengthy commitments to the new TV Hub service and customers that sign-up before 13th November 2022 will also receive a £50 Gift Code to spend on Google Play.
Susie Buckridge, TalkTalk’s GM of Product and Strategy, said:
“We know the world of TV can be confusing, which is why we’re helping to keep everything simple for our customers. We’re giving them access to the best in TV entertainment, with an interface that makes it easy to find their favourite shows, whether live or on-demand, without any complicated commitments. Plus, the freedom to personalise our TV service just the way they’d like it by adding their favourite Apps from Google Play Store. All wrapped up in our brilliant new TV Hub, for just £5 a month.”
The ISP added that the new TV Hub box is currently “available as a limited release to customers on Full Fibre packages” (full service includes linear and on demand content) and plans to roll out the new box to more customers over the coming months. The TalkTalk TV Hub hardware has been developed in partnership with Vantiva, formerly known as Technicolor, and IPTV platform YouView TV.
We can’t help but wonder whether this might put TalkTalk’s ongoing partnership with Netgem TV in future jeopardy, although for now they seem happy to be offering new customers two very similar set-top-boxes.
One thing we forgot to point out above is that the new TV service is £1 per month more expensive than it was before. We understand that this reflects a general price hike that will be introduced from 1st November 2022. But since TalkTalk’s TV service is on a monthly term, then it’s easy enough to cancel if you don’t want it anymore.
Still trying to understand why TalkTalk are so dead set on the TV Market after all this time This new hub pretty much doesn’t offer much more then what a smart tv can already do. Now I know not every household has one but realistically if the customer is enquiring about FTTP I feel the target audience will not see much use at all.
because everyone who makes a box like this (sky, talktalk, roku etc) want to be considered to be the go-to place for all your media. Like how a firestick also has youtube, netflix etc despite it being Amazon who have prime. They want to be the platform that you use to view media. Then they can advertise to you, record your viewing habits etc. I mean lets face it, few people are going to disassemble the OS / applications and nobody really knows what the box is doing.
Remember the smart TVs that sent the filenames of anything you watched on it to LG? Same goes for these boxes.
What do you actually get for your £5 per month, which you can’t get for free with a Roku or Amazon Fire stick? (which has a similar one-off outlay)
Seems to me you would be better off putting your £5 per month directly towards a subscription service like Netflix.
“a wide range of streaming & subscription services (e.g. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and NOW TV)”. So to clarify, if I pay TalkTalk £5 per month I get all of that? That is one hell of a deal if so.
Sadly not, if you choose to get the boost you will have access to the play store to download all these apps but you’ll need your own subscription such as, Amazon prime, Netflix, etc. to access the streaming service. Realistically if you have a Amazon fire stick you’ll be saving yourself £5 unless you’re looking for freeview options.
… the new TV Hub offer only 70 live TV channels?!
… downgrade comparing with the other offer Netgem TV (https://www.netgem.co.uk/whats-on/) that offers more than 200 Channels & 35+ Apps
SEE: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/09/uk-isp-talktalk-adds-90-free-hd-channels-to-pay-tv-service.html https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/TV-Channels-Guide/ta-p/2204377
So it’s £5 a month for essentially a free service. Amazon free TV stick in the Prime sale £25. Does everything this box does, right. Freeview + Fire TV stick = same service.
Given the propensity of the Android o/s to leak significant amounts of data to Google and others, I’d be very cautious about having one of these devices. And that is even before considering whether it offers anything of value, as others have noted in their posts above.
Big blow to Netgem TV. Kind of demonstrates that TalkTalk didn’t have faith in Netgem
It’s a bit more like….
TalkTalk’s 2019 Android TV Box was so late coming to market that they felt they HAD to launch with Netgem as their existing YouView boxes were no longer acceptable in the market.
I suspect Netgem will have a role in TalkTalk for a while to come…TT simply don’t have the resources to handle the content curation in place to properly support another TV platform.
TalkTalk cut most of their Consumer Product Team in late 2020/early 2021 and now they are in the process of rebuilding…
A very confused outfit…schizophrenic in some ways.
It wasn’t that long ago that talktalk wanted to charge £4or£5 a month just to watch freeview and free catch up services. No box, just a monthly charge.
If only Talk Talk would give us a decent Broadband speed ( currently about 2mg) instead of investing in all this fancy stuff . Look after the clients at the bottom end of your service
Talktalk are not an infrastructure provider and are unlikely to get into that market. They just resell their services over infrastructure provided by others. It’s Openreach or any of the altnets that would need to invest in your local area and roll out full fibre to improve your connectivity and speed.
NetJuck is a corpse reading its own eulogy.
COMPARE TALKTALK TV BOXES at:
https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Compare-our-TalkTalk-TV-Boxes/ta-p/2204428
(The new TalkTalk TV Hub, does’nt record! – only “Access content through On Demand”)
“TalkTalk’s 2019 Android TV Box was so late coming to market that they felt they HAD to launch with Netgem as their existing YouView boxes were no longer acceptable in the market.
=> I also suspect Netgem will have a role in TalkTalk for a while to come… because to use Netgemem stuff is very easy, and very USER-FRIENDLY (we have also children and elderly customers and others that don’t know, don’t have time or simply don’t want to spend time configuring an android box (the new ‘TV Hub‘ box) !!!
I’ve used Netgem.tv for the past 3 years. What I like most is the easy layout, even my 4yr old can navigate his way round the different channels. I also use the Netgem.TV app as I travel away a lot, I find it very useful. Finally you can use it with Alexa! Great TalkTalk TV 4K Box, you can RECORD, justt by sticking a USB PEN-disk ranging from 32GB-1TB.
Bahhh! Viewers who own a smart TV that includes Android TV may conclude the new “TalkTalk TV Hub” offers no significant advantage to warrant an additional box.
The “TV Hub” is currently limited to Full Fibre broadband customers, viewers will STILL NEED A TV AERIAL to access traditional live channels as the Hub will continue to use the Freeview signal to source the free-to-air channels. This means the number of channels available (only 70) is dependent on aerial and local Freeview coverage.
In contrast, rival broadband providers have started to offer fully internet-based TV services, AS WELL TalkTalk TV 4K Box (that offers more than 200 channels).
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