Since its launch in 2005, Belgacom TV has signed up nearly 0.9m subscribers, with success largely attributed to its broadcast of the Jupiler Pro League. The launch of TV Everywhere on tablets and smartphones closely follows its recent loss of exclusivity of the national football rights, and the multiscreen access it provides may go some way to counteracting the expected resultant churn.

In late 2010, Belgacom announced its 'Belgacom Entertainment' multiscreen strategy to provide its TV content across different platforms. It entered a string of partnerships and investments in a bid to improve accessibility to its services including improvements in content search for the on-demand catalogue. In Q3 2010, Belgacom launched PC-based access to Belgacom TV VoD and the TV catalogue, remote recording, Belgacom 11 (football) on PC and mobile, and two 3D Demo channels on the TV.

The telco has not made any announcements on whether the service is except from monthly data cap for either 3G or broadband customers. Restrictive data caps on most plans offered by Belgian ISPs (e.g. Belgacom's basic broadband packages comes with monthly quota of just 15GB) have hindered the development of premium OTT video market in Belgium and could limit the uptake of Belgacom's new service as well.

Unlike the previous Belgacom Entertainment launches which have all required an additional fee to access, the newer launch on tablets and smartphones is available to subscribers for no extra cost until October. This free period will allow Belgacom to judge the relative merits of the churn-reduction and net-addition enhancing effects of a free multiscreen offer and weigh them up against the potential for an improved ARPU. While IHS Screen Digest believes that ultimately, competition will lead to most multiscreen initiatives being available for no extra fee, with limited multiscreen competition in the Belgian market, Belgacom has a window during which it could consider a paid-for strategy.

Multiscreen strategies can help TV operators reduce churn by offering the same content on many devices, reducing the incentive for customers to turn to other services and providers when viewing the content on other screens. Although multiscreen services can also help to raise ARPUs when requiring an additional fee, subscribers are often reluctant to pay for content they are already receiving on another device.