EE, Britain’s biggest mobile operator, is to launch a new TV service to help it compete with rivals BT and TalkTalk who have won over customers by offering premium programming as part of a broadband package.

EE, jointly owned by Orange and Deutsche Telekom, said the new set-top box would be given for free to customers taking a home broadband subscription.

EE’s service will be similar to other offerings in the market, providing the country’s biggest broadcast channels and other programming such as movies on an on-demand basis.

That model has proved popular in recent years to customers who want more than the basic television service but are not willing to pay for the full TV subscription services offered by the likes of BSkyB and Virgin Media.

BT, the country’s biggest telecoms provider, has helped grow its broadband business since launching a high-profile sports service.

EE has repositioned itself in recent years, stealing a march on its competitors by becoming the first mobile operator in Britain to offer superfast 4G services, nearly a year before rivals Vodafone and Telefonica’s O2 were able to compete.

Its new service will enable customers to watch different content on four different screens at once.

Offering sought-after content also helps the operators to set themselves apart from rivals in the highly competitive market, and to increase customer loyalty.

The service will only be available to EE mobile or broadband customers.