IOL Broadband ties up with BSNL

IOL Broadband Ltd (previously India On Line Broadband) has announced a tie up with BSNL for bringing internet protocol television (IPTV) services to the state telecom service provider's subscribers. IOL has started trials of its IPTV service on the BSNL broadband network in Bangalore.

Earlier in October 2006, IOL had announced a similar tie up with MTNL.

The company has also announced a soft launch of its IPTV and video on demand (VoD) services in Bangalore on 14 January, 2007, followed by other cities. BSNL has over 700,000 broadband ADSL subscribers all over India. This subscriber base is growing at a compound rate of over 100 per cent per year.

IOL Broadband has also signed a revenue sharing agreement for its IPTV service with Anytime, a consortium of major Hollywood Studios, comprising of Disney, FOX, Warner, Universal, among others, giving it access to several Hollywood blockbusters for its IPTV service in India.

This agreement will allow IOL IPTV subscribers to view Hollywood movies without commercial breaks, months before satellite TV broadcasts.

IOL says it is well positioned to become the third alternative to the CAS and DTH. IOL IPTV allows the viewer to have total and interactive control over the TV and video media with full play functionality i.e. pause, rewind, fast forward and store facility.

IOL has been a pioneer in IPTV services and was the first to commence commercial IPTV rollout all over the country with MTNL and BSNL.