Blue: Swisscom buries the Swisscom TV, Teleclub, Bluewin and Kitag brands
Swisscom is consolidating its entire entertainment portfolio under the «Blue» brand. The previous brand names—Swisscom TV, Bluewin, Teleclub, and Kitag Kinos—will be phased out. Going forward, the "blue giant" will also make its TV and pay-TV offerings available to non-customers.
The existing Swisscom TV will run as an app on smartphones, tablets and as a web player on computers from (tomorrow) Wednesday. From October 6, the app will also be available on Samsung TVs, and later also on LG TVs, Swisscom's head of private customers Dirk Wierzbitzki told the media in Zurich on Tuesday.
In the free version, customers have to endure advertising. In the paid version, they get 30 hours of replay and 60 hours of recording capacity.
The new app will also be launched on UPC's TV boxes in the next few weeks. The launch at other competitors is planned for next year, it said.
At the same time, the offerings will be given new names: Swisscom TV becomes "blue TV" and Teleclub "blue+. The Kitag cinemas are now called "blue Cinema. With one exception: "Bluewin" remains in the e-mail addresses.
Entertainment packages accessible to all
The entertainment packages of the pay subsidiary Teleclub are now also available to customers of other Internet providers. The sports offer with the showpiece Champions League can be purchased either as a package or in individual games. Swisscom explained that all products are now available on all platforms at the same price.
Film and series fans will now receive the blue Max package, which replaces the previous Teleclub Movie. The blue Doku package broadcasts documentaries from major international providers such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Geo Television and National Geographic. And for the French-speaking Swiss, blue Cinéplay combines the best of content from Canal+, HBO, OCS and abc, explained Swisscom's new head of entertainment Wolfgang Elsässer.
As already known, Swisscom and the cable network operators led by UPC have ceased their trench warfare. With the start of the new soccer and ice hockey seasons, they are each expected to offer access to each other's sports content from October. For example, UPC's MySports channel will be integrated into Swisscom's TV, while content from Blue+ (previously Teleclub) will be available on UPC TV boxes. This means that Swisscom customers will once again receive Swiss ice hockey and cable network customers will once again receive Champions League matches as well as Swiss soccer.
In addition to TV, there are also new offers for cinema and gaming. In future, live soccer matches or operas will also be shown in the existing Kitag cinemas. There are also sports bars or bowling alleys there. "In addition, we are thinking about how to bring gaming to the cinemas," Elsässer said. On TV, the e-sports gaming platform Twitch will be launched.
Gain many new customers
By bringing entertainment under one roof and extending it to customers of other providers, Swisscom hopes to attract new users. So far, almost every second household connected to broadband subscribes to Swisscom TV, Wierzbitzki said: "There's more to come. We hope to win significantly more new customers for our offers," said the head of private customers in an interview with the AWP news agency. He did not want to reveal any figures.
There is one hint: So far, around 350,000 people out of a total of 1.56 million TV customers use the Swisscom TV app every month, according to Christian Gugelmann, who is responsible for the app. These customers of the TV app do not have to do anything. It automatically updates itself to the new version if this is activated in the device settings.
However, despite the consolidation under one roof, there is still no flat-rate subscription for all offers.
No step towards the abolition of the TV box
However, the launch of the new TV app for everyone is not the first step toward abolishing the TV box, said Wierzbitzki. With remote control or voice control, the TV box is easier to use than the app on a cell phone or smart TV. In addition, content from third-party providers such as Netflix can be integrated into the TV platform.
Telecom expert Ralf Beyeler from Internet comparison service Moneyland judged the prices for Blue's streaming packages to be relatively expensive, even when compared with competitors such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney+. In addition, the customer has to commit to a contract for six months.
"On the other hand, it is to be welcomed that Swisscom is finally focusing on a streaming offer that is available to everyone. For sports fans in particular, this is very good news," Beyeler found. (SDA)
