Sky: A few channels short of a Picnic?

Rupert Murdoch’s hugely successful TV network BSkyB has this week spread its gingham table cloth and laid out plans to release a new tasty combination service called Picnic, which will offer its users access to broadband, telephone and TV subscription features. epa00914353 Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB is planning to release Picnic, a set-top box subscription service that will see selective Sky channels broadcast on Freeview. EPA/LAURENT GILLIERON

epa00914353 Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB is planning to release Picnic, a set-top box subscription service that will see selective Sky channels broadcast on Freeview. EPA/LAURENT GILLIERONAttained through the Picnic set-top box, those customers perhaps unwilling to invest fully in the already established and multi-layered Sky Digital experience, will instead be able to enjoy simulcasts of the likes of Sky Sports 1, Sky Movies, and Sky One via Freeview subscription.Likely designed to compete against rival offerings in the form of Tiscali’s similar TV service and the BT Group’s broadband TV set-up, BSkyB’s somewhat oddly named Picnic is still to receive full approval from industry regulator Ofcom. If moved into service and blessed with traction, the basic Picnic hamper could soon find itself bulging with other Sky-based channel treats. "The launch of Picnic will be a big step forward for customers who are hungry for value and simplicity," said BSkyB chief executive officer James Murdoch, in a Guardian Unlimited report. "We are looking forward to the conclusion of the regulatory approval process, so we can get going delivering a great service and real savings to customers."Following on from BSkyB’s February announcement that it intends to replace current free-to-air Freeview channels Sky News, Sky Sports News, and Sky Three with new subscription options, BSkyB has also intimated that Picnic would enable customers to select the whole Freeview TV, broadband, and telephone service, or a preferred choice based on need.The initial subscription-based Picnic service will be broadcast with MPEG2 technology; however, if BSkyB can secure approval for MPEG4 compression, then it expects to introduce a fourth channel – Sky News – onto the service at a later date. If and when regulatory approval arrives from Ofcom, the Picnic TV set-top boxes will be produced by Sagem. BSkyB, which is the culmination of Sky Television and BSB, exists as the UK’s leading provider of pay-TV services and currently boasts some 8.6 million customers.