Tiscali to 'push VOD' for HD strategy

Tiscali has revealed plans to push VOD as a "viable" HD solution while it waits for the next wave in digital TV development.

The company recently launched a new HD version of its Tiscali TV EPG.

Its set-top-box is HD ready in terms of receiving high definition content over IPTV, but its current boxes would not support HD services delivered by DVB-T2 on digital terrestrial in the future.

Speaking to DS, director of TV Simon Hunt pointed out that there are two limitations on HD content; firstly, not every DSL subscriber can receive sufficient bandwidth to stream HD via broadcast or on-demand.

Secondly, while the DVB-T2 standard for HD digital terrestrial transmission has been adopted in the UK, there are currently "no manufacturers that are able to supply these tuners for our set-top-boxes".

Therefore, the company has instead opted to focus on using the 160GB storage capacity in the Tiscali+ box to "push" the VOD platform.

"That allows us to trickle HD programmes onto the Tiscali+ partitioned hard drive," he explained.

"We still have work to do, but this approach will ensure that everybody with Tiscali+ will be able to enjoy HD programmes, whatever their DSL line speed and still have full use of their current PVR capacity."