TalkTalk TV Store (formerly blinkbox) was a UK-based transactional (purchase and rental)

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

(VoD) service available on

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

and Microsoft Windows computers,

games console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

s and

Smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a techn ...

s. Content is generally streamed, with downloading currently possible on Windows PC/laptops. The blinkbox brand had been extended to companion services offering digital music and books.

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

bought an 80% stake in the business in 2011 as part of a move into digital content. On 8 January 2015 the company sold blinkbox Movies to

TalkTalk Group TalkTalk Telecom Group plc (commonly known as TalkTalk Group, trading as TalkTalk) is a company which provides pay television and Internet access services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2003 as a subsidiar ...

, who stated they intended to integrate the service into its own range of services. Tesco sold blinkbox Music to Guvera on 26 January 2015, and confirmed it would close its blinkbox Books division at the end of February 2015. TalkTalk renamed the blinkbox Movies service in 2016. In May 2018 TalkTalk announced that they would close the service completely, with customers transferring to rival service Rakuten TV.https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2018/04/talktalk_moves_off_net_tv_only_customers_to_rakuten_tv/

History

The company was co-founded in 2006 by Michael Comish (he was blinkbox's chief executive officer until June 2013 when he became Tesco Group Digital Officer) and Adrian Letts, chief operating officer of the blinkbox group of services and MD of the Movies and TV service, both former senior executives of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

respectively. blinkbox was launched in October 2007 with the backing of a number of venture capital firms. On 20 April 2011, Tesco acquired an 80% stake in blinkbox from Eden Ventures and Nordic Venture Partners, intending to use the company to boost its

digital entertainment Digital entertainment Industry includes, but is not restricted to, any combination of the following industries (that themselves have a considerable degree of overlap): *digital media *new media *video on demand *video games *interactive entertainmen ...

offering. The Movies and TV service has around one million users per month. In December 2014, Tesco was reported to be in negotiations with TalkTalk Group over the sale of blinkbox Movies, after talks with Vodafone fell through. The sale to TalkTalk was completed on 8 January 2015. TalkTalk eventually acquired the service along with a number of broadband customers, who transferred to the TalkTalk network. In May 2018 TalkTalk announced that they would close the service completely for off-network customers who did not take TalkTalk's own broadband service where the more fully featured TalkTalk TV service is provided. Customers are being transferred to rival DTO service Rakuten TV.

Services

TalkTalk TV Store has content deals with over 50 of the world's leading content producers including HBO,

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadca ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, Warner Bros.,

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, fo ...

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...

All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 40 production and distribution companies from across the U ...

, Revolver Entertainment and Aardman Animations. In 2010 the company signed a deal with the

Samsung Group The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ' ...

allowing films to be streamed directly though any Internet@TV

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

TVs. blinkbox also formed a content partnership with YouTube allowing the site to carry blinkbox films on its new Movies section. The service was also the first in the UK to offer streaming film content through

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

, and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

consoles. Rental content can be streamed directly to a Windows PC, Mac,

or Samsung Smart TV, and can be viewed any number of times within 48 hours. Buy-to-own content can be viewed without limit. The blinkbox app is built into all pre 2012 Samsung Smart TVs. Content is protected with Microsoft's Windows Media DRM digital rights management and requires

Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a v ...

to play. blinkbox cannot be used on

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

. Historically blinkbox combined a free+pay model allowing users both to buy titles and also to watch free ad-supported titles. In December 2012 blinkbox stopped all ad-supported titles and shortly after launched www.clubcardtv.com, in which users with a Tesco Clubcard could watch titles free of charge, viewing advertisements targeted to them based on their buying habits. On 28 October 2014, Tesco shut down the Clubcard TV service, stating that they were not getting the level of repeat usage that they had hoped for.

Other services

In 2012, Tesco bought the online music streaming service WE7 and relaunched it in 2013 as blinkbox Music, aiming to compete with

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. blinkbox launched an

ebook An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...

service, branded as blinkbox Books, in March 2014. blinkbox Music was sold to Guvera on 26 January 2015. After exclusive talks with

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized W ...

ended, Tesco also confirmed that blinkbox Books would close at the end of February 2015. Customers' purchases were transferred to Kobo.

References

External links

* {{Media in the United Kingdom, television Streaming television Software projects Video on demand services Internet properties established in 2007 TalkTalk Group 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom