Tesco sells Blinkbox on-demand service to Talk Talk

Tesco announced the deal this morning, in the wake of profit warnings and underwhelming sales figures.

The groceries giant is also set to close 43 unprofitable stores in the UK as part of the "challenging task of reinvigorating [the] business."

"Blinkbox Movies has thrived since becoming part of Tesco in 2011 and as we enter a new chapter, we are excited by the prospect of Blinkbox joining the TalkTalk family and complimenting their strategy of being the best value for money TV, broadband, mobile and home phone provider in the UK, offering customers flexible access to the widest range of free and paid for content," said the streaming service's co-founders Adrian Letts and Michael Comish.

Change may be afoot, but current Blinkbox customers need not worry about any imminent alterations to their service: "Blinkbox customers will still be able rent and buy awesome movies and TV even if they’re not a TalkTalk customer and any films and TV shows they have bought are safe and sound and will continue to be available on a range of devices," assured Letts, who is set to join TalkTalk as Managing Director for TV.

"We are excited about the opportunity that Blinkbox’s platform and technology expertise bring, and which will significantly accelerate the development of our TV platform," added TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding.

Blinkbox offers its customers TV boxsets, such as Homeland, Game of Thones and Girls, and newly released box office hits on a pay as you go basis without a contract.

Tesco also sold its Tesco broadband service to TalkTalk in the same transaction.