The connected TVs will be shipped from March, say the companies in a joint video announcement, released to coincide with CES in Las Vegas.

This is the first connected TV deal for Orange, which is using this to test out interest in the medium, a spokesperson told paidContent. No word yet on whether other content providers will join Orange on LG.

By-passing the set top box. The service will give those using the TVs with a broadband connection access to some content that Orange already offers via its IPTV service, such as news, weather, sports information and movie trailers, with the intention for this content to grow over time. The video (embedded below), for example, seemed to also suggest, through a cinema button, that Orange would also stream premium content through the service. The company currently offers thousands of films, as well as links to YouTube, and premium channels, through its set-top pox IPTV service. It already offers some of this content as well through an internet portal and via mobile.

Such services could also potentially give a leg up to broadcasters themselves. In Europe, the HbbTV group wants to also offer an IP-based on-demand platform for its content. In December HbbTV announced it is still working on standards for its project. Hbb includes Canal+, France Televisions and TF1, Germany’s Institut fur Rundfunktechnik research centre, satellite operator SES ASTRA and software makers Ant and OpenTV.

The deal covers only France for now. But given that the service is internet-based, there is no reason why eventually it couldn’t extend to other markets where LG sells internet-enabled TVs. It gives Orange a potentially good avenue for extending its IPTV ambitions: it currently offers television services in France and Poland, but has delayed in offering IPTV in other markets where it sells broadband, notably the UK. In the UK, Orange has been losing broadband customers.

One other key point of the deal is that we could see more coming out of the LG/Orange relationship. In the video announcement embedded below, Orange points out that it partly selected LG for this service because of the latter’s strength across TVs, PCs and mobiles. The venture is part of Orange’s “connected home” initiative, which aims to create a seamless experience across the three screens.

Here’s a video from the companies explaining how it will work: