Sunrise UPC launches free TV offering following Wilmaa acquisition

Liberty Global-backed Swiss service provider Sunrise UPC is introducing a free TV tier as part of its yallo offering.

Yallo is launching yallo Free TV as a free, advertising-funded TV offer that can also be used by customers of other providers.

The service comes with basic features and is targeted at those looking for a service that supports ‘occasional television viewing’, according to the provider.

The launch of the free offering follows Sunrise UPC’s acquisition of streaming startup Wilmaa TV in June.

Sunrise UPC is hoping that it will be able to upsell subscribers from what is seen as an entry-level TV offering. It said that anyone who wants the fully featured yallo TV service can access it at a low price as part of a bundled offering from yallo Home Internet +TV.

Users who play recordings or switch channels on the free service will be shown two to five commercials, each of which can be skipped after 15 seconds.

After this, viewers can change channel as many times as they like for 30 minutes without any commercial breaks. Sunrise UPC said that the commercials shown are ‘continuously optimissed’.

The stripped down ad-supported service does not include the seven-day catch-up available with the subscription service. The service offers a limited recording capability, but it is not possible to record series and recordings are deleted after 14 days..

More substantially while the yallo TV subscription permits unlimited use on all devices, users can only view yallo Free TV on a television set for up to 30 hours per month.

Advertising on yallo Free TV is marketed by agency Goldbach. The advertising offered on yallo Free TV is based on the existing streaming service Wilmaa Free, which is available to users until further notice and will be replaced by yallo Free TV at a later date, according to the company.

yallo Free TV is currently available on Apple TV and selected Android TV devices such as the yallo TV Box, through the yallo TV apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as via an Internet browser on other devices.

Users can watch free television with yallo Free TV either as a guest or as a registered user, by providing an e-mail addres), which is necessary to make recordings, access channel lists and to stream on a television.

“We launched a very attractive offer last year in the form of yallo TV, which provides a comprehensive TV experience at a low price and is very popular with our customers. With yallo Free TV, we are now targeting customers who only occasionally want to watch TV with yallo, free of charge without a TV subscription. With its basic features, yallo Free TV is also an ideal launchpad for getting to know our TV offer at no cost before opting for the comprehensive yallo TV subscription,” said Christoph Richartz, chief YOL officer of Sunrise.