BROADBAND telephony player Engin has launched a $5million marketing push suggesting consumers show the big telcos "where to stick it" as it prepares to launch the TiVo digital video recorder early next year. The telco, which is 35 per cent owned by Kerry Stokes's Seven Network, launched the first phase of its marketing program this week with press advertising showing people how to connect its voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service, which offers cheap fixed-line phone calls. Phase two of the campaign, which is being created by Sydney agency Oil, will promote the company's so-called naked DSL service, due to launch next quarter.

It will enable subscribers to receive high-speed broadband internet and phone services over a local phone line without paying line rental fees. The third phase will focus on the launch of digital video recorder TiVo, which Seven Network parent company Seven Media Group announced last month it would bring to Australia next year. The launch of TiVo, for which Engin has the distribution and marketing rights, will complete the company's reinvention as aninternet, voice and video provider.

Australians wanting to sign up for TiVo - which will allow them to pause live TV and download shows to watch when it suits them - are expected to pay about $500 up-front to buy the digital recorder, as well as a low monthly subscription fee that could include access to more than a dozen free-to-air and broadband TV channels. Engin chief executive Illka Tales said by bundling the three services, the company hoped to halve the monthly cost of subscribing to Foxtel's pay-TV service, its iQ set-top box and separate broadband internet and fixed-line phone services. We see (naked DSL) as a way of disrupting the traditional phone and broadband market, Mr Tales said.

We will also be a market leader in terms of the (digital) video recorder market. Oil has created a blue animated character, based on the Engin logo, to present the company as a challenger brand in the telco, internet and subscription TV markets. The company, which has exclusive distribution, brand management and content development rights for TiVo, will use direct and database marketing to call for registrations from people interested in TiVo, with Engin's existing customers likely to get dibs on the first batch of TiVos available in Australia.

Marketing chief Phil Dobbie said Engin needed to build brand awareness and overcome perceptions that VoIP services were difficult to install. The advertising campaign will initially include print, internet and radio advertising, a revamped Engin website, point-of-sale and brochures, with editorial support expected next year from partners in the TiVo rollout, including the Seven Network and Yahoo7. BROADBAND telephony player Engin has launched a $5million marketing push suggesting consumers show the big telcos "where to stick it" as it prepares to launch the TiVo digital video recorder early next year.