JumpTV (TSE:JTV), a distributor of ethnic PPV TV channels over the internet, has struck an interesting deal with Tiscali (BIT:TIS) that will see the ISP provide the Canadian company’s channel line-up on its U.K. web portal (via announcement). JumpTV streams over 300 channels from 75 countries (think Al Jazeera, ITV Patagonia etc) online and with some TV broadcast partners in a number of geographically-based, monthly subscription bundles. The deal sees Tiscali add to its portal pages JumpTV’s “Jumper” embeddable video player, through which users can browse and view channels and through which the transaction can be handled for subscriptions.
It should grow JumpTV’s customer base (Tiscali is the U.K.’s third-biggest ISP, with 1.5 million broadband subscribers), but the real surprise is that JumpTV hasn’t gone the whole way and offered its channel lineup through Tiscali TV, the ISP’s IPTV service that arrives in lounges via its ADSL broadband service and a set-top box. Tiscali has recently been winning high-profile take-up from the likes of BSkyB and HBO for that delivery channel, while Jump itself struck a set-top box deal back in March. A JumpTV in London spokesperson told paidContent.org the deal did not pertain to IPTV but the company would like to extend the offering in that direction if able.