According to a recent Telegraph report, integrated telecom service provider Vodafone Group Plc.  (VOD Quick QuoteVOD - Free Report) is forging ahead with its plans to launch pay-TV services in the U.K. this October. Headquartered in the U.K., the company had initially scheduled the launch for Nov 2015 which got delayed several times due to technical reasons.

The pay-TV service will mainly focus on delivering streaming and on-demand content services excluding linear programming. Also, the offerings operate on the technology developed by New York-based TV platform developer, Kaltura. Meanwhile, if the pay-TV service launch would have been on schedule, it would have clashed with its fixed broadband service launch. However, this launch is likely to target the same market as Vodafone Home Broadband.

Vodafone aims to offer the new pay-TV service to its employees first as a dry-run, hoping to resolve any technical issue that might remain, before its global launch in 2017.

Vodafone’s Recent Deals

Reports state that Vodafone has already inked a deal with British Sky Broadcasting Services to include its Now TV streaming services along with its upcoming set-top-box (STB). Thus, Vodafone’s pay-TV set-top box customers can watch their favorite football matches live on Sky Sports.

Vodafone is also eying a deal with BT Group plc (), the world’s leading communications service company headquartered in the U.K.

Competitors

Vodafone is expected to face intense competition from satellite and cable giants like Sky, Virgin Media and Talktalk Group in the pay-TV space and from Netflix Inc. (NFLX Quick QuoteNFLX - Free Report) , Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN Quick QuoteAMZN - Free Report) , Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL Quick QuoteGOOGL - Free Report) and Apple Inc. (AAPL Quick QuoteAAPL - Free Report) in the over-the-top (OTT) service market.

Vodafone currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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