Vodafone has ambitions become your all-in-one entertainment provider with the launch of a new streaming box called the Vodafone TV, which comes with a new subscription-based streaming service specifically for U.K. consumers. To coincide with the launch, it also unveiled a new “SuperMobile” mobile plan for those who want blazing-fast connectivity to go with it.
The Vodafone TV offers a pretty comprehensive selection of entertainment that already seems like it’s more than a match for any of its competitors. Aside from the usual fare like the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, you’ll also get access to Freely, the U.K.’s top free streaming service with more than 70 live channels and on-demand apps from all of the nation’s biggest broadcasters.
Some of the major streaming giants are also thrown into the mix. Sign up and you’ll also be able to access Netflix Standard with ads and HBO Max Standard with ads, which means it’s actually a fairly good alternative to Sky, which has a similar deal for its Ultimate TV subscribers. The company went with the Android TV platform too, which means you’ll be able to get all of the other major streaming apps – Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+ etc – as well as those more obscure ones you like (if, in fact, you do).
But it gets better than that, for the Vodafone TV box is also a major video game streaming hub too, thanks to the fact that it comes with Netgem’s PLEIO cloud game streaming platform and a free gamepad. PLEIO offers a library of more than 300 games available to play at no extra cost besides your regular subscription fee, and because the box itself runs Android, you’ll also be able to download other game streaming apps like GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Streaming, Blacknut and so on.
Another selling point is Vodafone Box Office, which provides access to a massive catalogue of movies and TV shows that can be bought or rented. There’s also the Vodafone companion app, which will allow subscribers to access their content on their smartphone, so they can start watching a new series at home and then pick up where they left off when they’re on the bus or whatever.
The hardware itself leans towards the higher end in terms of streaming devices. The Vodafone TV box comes with 32 gigabytes of storage and 3GB of RAM, and it supports 4K content with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.
The big question is how much is all of this going to cost, and the answer is that we don’t yet know. Vodafone said the box and service will launch in October, and that it will say more about its subscription fees in a few weeks time. It will be available to both its broadband and mobile subscribers, and if you’re not a Vodafone customer at this time, it’s more than willing to embrace you as a new one. We’re expecting it will offer a variety of plans.
One of those plans will be the new SuperMobile plan for mobile customers, for which we don’t yet have full details. However, the company said it will guarantee a minimum speed of 15 megabytes-per-second at all times, making it four-times faster than its standard plans.
Vodafone’s consumer director Rob Winterschladen said Vodafone TV is about so much more than just TV. “It’s a family entertainment platform that brings together live TV, on-demand streaming, gaming, music and all the apps on Google Play Store,” he said.
Telecoms analyst Ernest Doku told TechRadar that the double-launch represents a push by Vodafone to become the “everything provider” for U.K. consumers. It wants to bundle broadband, mobile, streaming and TV in a single package with one simple bill each month.
“Vodafone TV is all about consumer convenience: streaming subscriptions, live channels and bills bought together in one place, with a companion app to take it on the move,” he said. “And as the only U.K. mobile network to bundle TV with a mobile plan, Vodafone has opened this up to millions of households who don’t take its broadband.”
