Sky has a three-in-one Picnic

BSkyB has announced plans to offer broadband, telephone and digital terrestrial television services under a new brand across the UK.

The new Picnic service will allow customers to choose any combination of Sky's TV, broadband and telephony services.

However, the decision to proceed with the launch is subject to the outcome of Ofcom's review of the proposed increased choice in TV programming.

The regulator plans to launch a consultation on the initial licence changes later this autumn.

Picnic will initially comprise three MPEG-2 video streams, but will move to MPEG-4 and add a fourth channel dedicated to Sky News subject to approval from Ofcom.

James Murdoch, chief executive of Sky, said: "We are looking forward to the conclusion of the regulatory approval process so we can start delivering a great service and real savings to customers."

Picnic compatible set-top boxes will be produced by multiple manufacturers and sold by a variety of retailers, rather than being provided solely by Sky.

This will allow manufacturers to add additional features, such as PVR functionality or the ability to receive pay-TV services from other providers.

Sky has said that Picnic will not subsidise the boxes and that retailers will be responsible for setting prices.

The first manufacturer will be Sagem and it is expected that others will follow shortly after launch.

Sky hopes to make Picnic available on PCs as well in the future.