Eircom’s TV vision to take on Sky and UPC
The company yesterday launched an eVision television service in a bid to capture a share of the market that is dominated by rivals Sky and UPC.
It also makes Eircom the first company in Ireland to offer “quad play” bundles featuring landline, broadband, mobile phone, and television services in one place.
Eircom claims eVision will prove a major hit with consumers as it is offering a range of popular channels at significantly lower prices than its main competitors.
The eVision basic package, consisting of 34 channels, including all of the main Irish stations as well as BBC, Channel 4, and MTV (but excluding ITV and Sky News) costs €10 per month.
Sky’s entry-level package consists of 53 channels for €27 per month and UPC’s version with 50 channels costs €28.50 per month.
All customers who sign up for the standard 18-month contract before Dec 31 will also receive the basic service known as eVision Essential, free for the first six months.
However, customers will also have to subscribe to Eircom’s broadband service as eVision will be delivered through the company’s new eFibre service, which is already installed in 500,000 homes.
Eircom chief executive Herb Hribar said the launch of eVision was “a true game-changer” for the company, which has invested €1.5bn in improving its range of phone, broadband, and television services, including its new 4G phone services.
Mr Hribar predicted that consumers would welcome a service offering value for money.
The managing director of Eircom’s consumer division, Kevin White, said other advantages of the eVision service include a free set-top box which can record up to 240 hours of programmes, and free installation by Eircom’s technicians.
The eVision service will also allow subscribers to record two programmes at the same time.
Smaller set-top boxes for multi-room viewing will also be provided for the additional service, at a cost of €5 per month per room.
Mr White said Eircom could now offer customers unique “quad play” bundle from €70 per month. He said eVision had been successfully trialled by 600 consumers earlier this year who had provided great feedback on the design of the product’s user-friendly, onscreen guide.
“We show visual images in our guide to highlight programmes as a direct result of responding to the wishes of customers,” he said.
Add-on channel packs such as Sky Sports, Sky Movies, and Setanta/BT Sport will be available with only a one month commitment and no downgrade fees.
Eircom’s launch of its eVision service is expected to spark a price war in the already competitive market for television services as well as bundled packages incorporating phone and broadband services.
UPC, which recently launched its Horizon service allowing subscribers to access television on a number of devices in the home including laptop, tablet, and mobile phone, has also indicated that it intends to offer customers a mobile phone service.
Sky has also launched broadband services in the past year.
Although Mr White declined to reveal Eircom’s targets for eVision in its first 12 months in terms of subscribers, he claimed the firm was “very optimistic” about consumer reaction to the service.
