As reported here on PVR Wire back in August, the U.K.'s biggest telecommunications organization, BT, has finally announced plans for an IP-based television service for late 2006. Codenamed 'Nevis', the service teams BT with Philips and Microsoft to offer a video-on-demand set-top box system that can store 80 hours of recorded content, and adds all 30 of the digital terrestrial channels on the Freeview service to the mix.
The hurried press release seems designed to combat the recent offer from BSkyB for the U.K. ISP EasyNet; BT controls most of the telecom infrastructure in the U.K., but BSkyB has stacks of television content (including the very lucrative rights to English Premiership soccer -- for the time being), and it now has the means to distribute it over the Internet.
BT now has a massive battle on their hands to try and establish themselves in an already-saturated market, and then combat the omnipresent BSkyB and the growing threat of Sky+.
More: ADSL Guide
