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YouView is a hybrid television platform in the United Kingdom developed by YouView TV Ltd., a partnership of four broadcasters, the

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ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and Channel 5; and three

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

operators,

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

BT Group BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broa ...

and

TalkTalk Group TalkTalk Telecom Group plc (commonly known as TalkTalk Group, trading as TalkTalk) is a company which provides pay television and Internet access services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2003 as a subsidiary ...

. YouView provides access to free-to-air

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

(DTT) channels from

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

using an aerial connection, and to

TV on demand Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

("catch-up TV") services using a broadband internet connection. YouView PVR

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

es are sold at retail, or built into certain

Sony Bravia Bravia (stylized as BRAVIA) is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, and used for its television products. Its backronym is "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-defi ...

TV sets, and the service has no contract or subscription. BT and TalkTalk both use YouView software for their subscription services

BT TV BT TV is a subscription IPTV service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers. ...

Plusnet Plusnet plc is a British triple play internet service provider (ISP); providing broadband, landline and mobile services. The company was founded in 1997 in Sheffield, England, and became a public limited company (plc) in July 2004 when it was f ...

's 'YouView TV from Plusnet', and

TalkTalk TV TalkTalk TV is a UK-based consumer television and video on demand service, operated by the TalkTalk Group that originally launched in 2000. In September 2012, the current TalkTalk TV was launched in partnership with YouView. Its television an ...

, and provide their own additional offerings to their subscribers through their own branded YouView set-top boxes. The platform was formed from an ambitious project between the UK's four terrestrial broadcasters that started in 2008, originally titled ''Project Canvas''. The project went through difficulties due to regulatory approvals and fears of it being anti-competitive. After a long delay it finally launched on 4 July 2012.

Content

The YouView hardware is a

DVB-T2 DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial tele ...

HD set-top box that provides viewing and recording of all free-to-air channels available on

digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom encompasses over 100 television, radio and interactive services broadcast via the United Kingdom's terrestrial television network and receivable with a standard television set. The majority of ...

. There is no access to some streamed channels in the 225–256 range on

, as YouView lacks support for the

MHEG-5 MHEG-5, or ISO/IEC 13522-5, is part of a set of international standards relating to the presentation of multimedia information, standardised by the Multimedia and Hypermedia Experts Group (MHEG). It is most commonly used as a language to describ ...

integration channel used by these channels to provide them over IP. Additional content is provided over a broadband internet connection, with channels that can be viewed and recorded in the same way as the free-to-air channels and can also be accessed via the YouView menu and

EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...

via the search function. On demand players vary as rentals, on demand, subscription and catch-up (correct as of 2020): *

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

(catch-up) *

ITV Hub ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV plc, ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital Channels, ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The serv ...

(catch-up) * STV Player (catch-up;

STV Group STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and r ...

regions only) *

All 4 All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—requir ...

(catch-up & on-demand) *

My5 My5 (previously Five Download and later Demand 5) is the brand name of video-on-demand services offered by Channel 5 in the United Kingdom. The service went live on 26 June 2008. It is owned by Paramount Global and operated by their Paramoun ...

(catch-up) *

Milkshake! ''Milkshake!'' (stylised as milkshake!) is a British children's television programming block on Channel 5 and is currently aimed at children aged 3–7. History The block debuted on Channel 5's first full day on air, at 7.30am on 31 March 19 ...

(catch-up) *

BritBox BritBox is an online digital video subscription service, founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, operating in nine countries across North America, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

(subscription) * Pop Player (catch-up) *Ketchup TV, Sports Channel Network, YAAAS!, PLANET KNOWLEDGE, On demand 365 (free on-demand players) *

UKTV Play UKTV Play is a video on demand service owned by UKTV, launched in August 2014. The service offers catch-up programming from UKTV's free-to-air channels, which are Dave, Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in perform ...

(catch-up) * Horror Bites (catch-up) *

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Catchup Channels UK (catch-up) * TalkTalk Player (for TalkTalk customers only) * BT TV Player (for BT customers only) *

Now TV Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * No ...

(subscription) *

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

(subscription) *

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

(subscription) *

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a Closed platform, walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile pho ...

(catch-up & on-demand radio) *

Sky Store Sky Store is a service operated by Sky Group in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland that offers movies and TV shows via video streaming or DVD and Blu-ray Disc by mail. It originally launched in 2012 by Sky UK offering ov ...

(rental + buy & keep) Since been removed from Youview. On 29 July 2013 it was revealed that the YouView partners intended to launch the service on

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s, tablets, and

smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a techno ...

s, three days after BSkyB announced the £10

set-top box which streams on demand content.

YouView from BT

BT Infinity BT Superfast Fibre (formerly BT Infinity) is a broadband service in the United Kingdom provided by BT Consumer, the consumer sales arm of the BT Group. The underlying network is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses optical fibre for all excep ...

subscribers can access additional live

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...

channels via the YouView EPG. Customers who subscribe to BT TV will receive either a YouView+ box (with recording capabilities), or a standard YouView box (no recording capabilities), or a YouView

Ultra HD Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed b ...

box – depending on the subscription type taken. They can then view on-demand content through the BT TV Player.

YouView from Plusnet

'Unlimited Fibre' customers can subscribe to Plusnet's 'YouView TV from Plusnet' service, with provision through both the full range of available Freeview channels and by channels live-streamed through the Internet (IPTV), in both Standard Definition and High Definition. Subscribers choose either a standard YouView box or YouView+ box, the latter with the ability to pause and rewind live TV, and a recording capacity of up to 150 hours of HD, or 300 hours of SD Freeview, Entertainment and BT Sport Lite channels, which are included as standard. Both boxes also provide access to the 'on demand' players from the main broadcasters: BBC iPlayer, the ITV Hub, All 4 and My 5.

YouView from TalkTalk

A free YouView box is provided to TalkTalk Plus or Essentials customers taking out a fixed term contract and allow access to the content previously available from TalkTalk TV. Content that TalkTalk provides, such as film rentals and box sets, are available from the TalkTalk Player application within the YouView menu bar. In the TalkTalk Player, there are 'boosts' that customers can buy for a minimum of one month, and customers can watch and record them from the main guide the same as Freeview channels. These boosts range from Sky premium channels, sports, TV box sets, films, and foreign language channels. TalkTalk use their own brand of

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...

-manufactured boxes, with the TalkTalk logo on the front, a remote control with a direct button on the TalkTalk Player, and a 320 GB hard drive for Plus TV customers. Essentials customers cannot record, but can still pause live TV. Unlike BT, customers do not need a fibre broadband package to access the service.

Features

The original purpose of YouView was to combine web streamed television and traditional television together in one box. The service was initially marketed as those who do not have an existing subscription to Sky, Virgin or BT TV. One of YouView's features is the

electronic programming guide Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...

(EPG) that can scroll backwards up to 7 days and that integrates directly with the respective channel's catch-up service.

has since launched a similar, competing platform called Freeview Play.

Technical information

On 14 April 2011, YouView published its final core technical specification. The minimum specifications for a YouView-enabled

(DTT) high-definition (HD)

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

(DVR or PVR) product require: *Twin

DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...

tuners *

Embedded Linux Operating systems based on the Linux kernel are used in embedded systems such as consumer electronics (eg. set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information applianc ...

2.6.23 or later operating system *Maximum of 26 dB of fan noise * 4K UHD (

) graphics plane * MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video *

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...

2.1 The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world's governing body in the sport of bicycle racing, classifies races according to a rating scale. The rating is represented by a code made of two or three parts and indicates both the type or style ...

socket *

TOSLINK TOSLINK (from ''Toshiba Link'') is a standardized optical fiber connector system. Also known generically as optical audio, its most common use is in consumer audio equipment (via a "digital optical" socket), where it carries a digital audio st ...

optical or

coaxial In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire condu ...

S/PDIF S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) is a type of digital audio interface used in consumer audio equipment to output audio over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable (using RCA or BNC connectors) ...

connection *Up to 5.1 surround sound *

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

port supporting 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX *

802.11n IEEE 802.11n-2009 or 802.11n is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multipl ...

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installations avoid the costly process of introducing ...

support, integrated, or via a USB adapter *950

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

central processing unit A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, an ...

(CPU) *Two

Universal Serial Bus Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

USB 2.0 sockets *Support for USB mass storage devices Analogue HD outputs are forbidden as part of the rights management strategy. The specifications will evolve over time to reflect different devices, including non-PVR and

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...

variants.

Set-top boxes

Set-top boxes A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

available for the YouView service: *

Humax Humax (휴맥스) is a consumer electronics company. Founded in South Korea in 1989, it manufactures set-top boxes, digital video recorders and other consumer electronics. It is publicly traded on KOSDAQ. Listed on the Korean stock exchange (KO ...

DTR-T1000 (launch date 24 July 2012). *

DTR-T1000 with BT brand (launch date 1 September 2012). This includes the BT brand and an extra menu item "BT Vision". *

DTR-T1010 (launch date 19 March 2013). The functionally and hardware is exactly the same to the previous DTR-T1000 with different appearance. *

DTR-T2000 (launch date 14 June 2014). Minor redesign and slightly smaller than the previous T1010 design. *

DTR-T2100 with BT YouView+ brand (launch date 25 February 2014). Redesign which is significantly smaller and quieter than previous Humax Youview boxes (because power transformer at plug). *

DTR-T2110 with BT YouView+ brand. *

DTR-T2120 with

YouView+ brand. *

DTR-T4000 with BT YouView+ Ultra HD brand (later marketed as ''BT TV box''). *

DN360T with TalkTalk brand (launch date 5 March 2013). No recording is available. *

DN370T with TalkTalk brand (launch date 5 March 2013). Recording is available. *

DN371T YouView+ (launch date 5 March 2014). *

DN372T with TalkTalk brand. Recording is available. * Sagemcom RTIW387 with BT brand (marketed as ''BT TV Box Pro'', launch date 4 June 2021). Note 1: each YouView box comes in a variety of hard disk storage sizes, and is often designated by ModelNo/StorageSize – e.g. DTR-T1000/500GB Note 2: most YouView boxes do not have support for

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

, and must connect directly to the router or through power-line adapters. Newer boxes from

, such as the Sagemcom RTIW387 do support

. Note 3: YouView+ has become the designated way to show the set-top box records TV programmes. This is because of services offered by TalkTalk TV.

History and development

''Project Canvas'' was initially announced as a partnership between the BBC, BT and ITV plc, following the failure of

Project Kangaroo Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed video on demand platform offering content from BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), Itv.com and Channel 4's 4oD (collectively UK VOD LLP), initially expected to launch in 2008, but blocked ...

, a proposed video-on-demand service offering content from

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

ITV.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...

, and Channel 4's 4oD, which was blocked in February 2009 on competition grounds, and only led to the short lived

SeeSaw A seesaw (also known as a teeter-totter or teeterboard) is a long, narrow board supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both ends; as one end goes up, the other goes down. These are most commonly found a ...

service. The Project Canvas proposal was published by the BBC a few weeks after Kangaroo's cancellation. Canvas differed from Kangaroo in that it was a proposed TV platform (a device that would deliver internet-connected TV), rather than a video-on-demand service (that would act as a single content portal, much like the music video equivalent

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

). On 30 July 2009, Project Canvas announced that

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

had signed up to the project. On 9 July 2010, Five announced that it would not pursue further involvement in Project Canvas, pending a review of its digital investment strategy. On 24 August 2010, Five re-joined Project Canvas, following their acquisition by

Northern & Shell Northern & Shell (holding company name Northern and Shell Network Ltd) is a British publishing group, founded in December 1974 and owned since then by Richard Desmond. Formerly a publisher of pornographic magazines including ''Penthouse'' and ''A ...

. On 16 December 2009, Project Canvas announced that

and TalkTalk had also signed up to the project. On 22 March 2010 transmission firm

joined as an equal partner in the project. On 17 May 2010 the then Project Canvas director Richard Halton said: "We have also put out an invitation for an eighth partner, and we would like a company that can add scale and expertise to the platform. It is a question of finding an organisation that shares the aims of the venture." It was later reported that, EE, the UK operations of

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...

, had decided against joining, after holding advanced discussions.

Management

On 23 July 2010

Kip Meek Kip Meek (born 18 April 1955), full name Kingsley John Neville Meek, is a British businessperson specialising in media and telecommunication. Career Kip Meek held board level roles at Ofcom from 2003 until 2007. He joined Ofcom as senior partner ...

was announced as the non-executive chairman of Project Canvas. Meek left YouView on 7 March 2011, and was replaced by

Alan Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics com ...

with immediate effect, who was brought on board by Channel 5's

Richard Desmond Richard Clive Desmond (born 8 December 1951) is a British publisher, businessman and former pornographer. According to the 2021 '' Sunday Times Rich List'', Desmond was the 107th richest person in the United Kingdom. He is the founder of Nor ...

. The move was partly based on his experience with set-top boxes, in particular that of Sky, and partly due to his likely influence in retaining confidence in the various partners. Alan Sugar stepped down as Chairman in March 2013 following a "boardroom bust-up" with Desmond, with TalkTalk group chairman Sir Charles Dunstone taking on the chairmanship as an interim position. In October 2013

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment bwin.party Digital Entertainment was an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Formerly the world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it was best known fo ...

chairman Simon Duffy was named as non-executive chairman of YouView on a permanent basis.

Development

On 13 November 2009, BBC Future Media and Technology director

Erik Huggers Erik Huggers is a media executive who most recently served as CEO of video hosting service Vevo. He previously worked at Microsoft, Endemol, the BBC, and at OnCue, Intel's Internet TV effort that was acquired by Verizon. Early life and educatio ...

previewed the work-in-progress user interface that could power the Project Canvas at

C21 Media C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

's FutureMedia conference in London. The mock-up of how the Beijing Olympic Games would look on Canvas allowed users to watch highlights instantly, send clips to friends, monitor what's being said on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, access archives at the touch of a button, and use commercial third party applications and services.

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

compiled a creative analysis for BT about the potential impact of Canvas, describing it as "

2.0". As Canvas was to be an open platform, Stanley's report noted that content providers would no longer need to pay the current sum of around £10m for capacity on

to reach their target audience. On 22 March 2010, the Project Canvas partners submitted analysis to the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...

setting out why the proposed Canvas joint venture does not constitute a qualifying merger under the

Enterprise Act 2002 The Enterprise Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made major changes to UK competition law with respect to mergers and also changed the law governing insolvency bankruptcy. It made cartels illegal with a maximum pri ...

. On 19 May 2010, the OFT confirmed that it would not investigate Project Canvas over competition issues. As none of the partners were contributing a "pre-existing business" to Project Canvas, the OFT ruled that it "did not have the jurisdiction" to investigate the venture on competition grounds. The OFT stated "Unlike in the Project Kangaroo joint venture which was blocked by the Competition Commission in 2009, it is not proposed that the joint venture partners will contribute any video-on-demand content or other business to rojectCanvas, and Canvas will have no role in aggregating, marketing or directly retailing any such television content". Project Canvas was formally approved by the

BBC Trust The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...

in June 2010. In May 2010 the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' reported that the name YouView was the most likely brand for the service, having been registered as

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

(IP) by the group of broadcasters in April. On 16 September 2010 YouView TV Ltd was incorporated, and the product branded under the YouView name. At the same time, Richard Halton was appointed as CEO of YouView TV Ltd, having previously served as programme director for Project Canvas. On 16 September 2010 a 'Notice of threatened opposition' was filed against YouView with the

Intellectual Property Owners Association {{single source, date=July 2012 The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) is a trade association that is composed of owners of intellectual property, represented mostly by in-house corporate counsel and private practice attorneys practici ...

(IPO). Robin Fry, an intellectual property partner at law firm Beachcroft LLP, said that the site's similarity to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

could cause consumers to confuse the two brands. The use of the world 'You', coupled with a capitalised character in the middle of the word, might suggest a connection between the services. If

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

did object, it would be highly likely to win any legal action, according to Fry. "Google is involved in litigation all over the world, and would not be frightened of taking action against this trademark. It has a clear interest in protecting its trademarks to stop them being diluted", he said. Originally slated to launch in 2010, then early 2011, it was announced on 7 February 2011 that YouView would be delayed to 2012 due to technical issues. An "early 2012" launch was also not possible. On 14 April 2011, YouView announced additional hardware partnerships with

Vestel Vestel is a Turkish home and professional appliances manufacturing company consisting of 18 companies specialised in electronics, major appliances and information technology. Vestel's headquarters and production plant are located in Manisa, while ...

Pace plc Pace plc was a British company who developed set-top boxes (STBs), advanced residential gateways, software and services for the pay-TV and broadband services industry. Pace's customers included cable, telco, satellite and IPTV operators. Th ...

, and Manhattan. On 13 May 2011, Technicolor, one of the original set-top-box hardware manufacturing partners decided to withdraw from the project. The six remaining manufacturers at that point were Humax, Huawei, Pace, Manhattan, Vestel, and Cisco. TalkTalk began running an in-house trial at the beginning of February 2012 to prepare for the launch. YouView formally launched on 4 July 2012, just in time for the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Regulatory approval and controversy

Following the BBC's proposal in February 2009, there have been comments by a number of organisations and companies which have been published by the BBC in a 392-page document. The

reached its provisional conclusions following more than 800 written responses, green lit in December 2009. On 25 June 2010, the BBC Trust gave final approval to the BBC's involvement in Project Canvas, stipulating a number of conditions. The Trust concluded that Project Canvas will deliver significant public value for licence fee payers, and that the Trust shall review the BBC's involvement in Canvas against the conditions of its approval, twelve months after launch of Canvas to consumers. The

Digital TV Group The DTG (Digital TV Group) is the association for British digital television broadcasters and annually publish and maintain the technical specifications for digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the United Kingdom, which is known as the D-Boo ...

(DTG) welcomed the decision and announced it would work with the partners and DTG members to develop the UK specification for Connected TV devices and services to form the 7th edition of the DTG D-Book.

Objections to the approval

A spokesman for

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

said: "We are disappointed the BBC Trust has approved Canvas and ignored the significant concerns raised by the commercial sector about the proposal. Our position on this matter remains unchanged. As it stands, Canvas will severely restrict competition and innovation and ultimately this will harm consumers". A spokesman for

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

(BSkyB) said: "The BBC's involvement in Canvas is an unnecessary use of public funds. The BBC Trust's announcement is a predictable decision from a body that has shown little inclination to think independently or set meaningful boundaries on the BBC's activities". The UK's Intellect Technology Association, said in a submission to the BBC Trust that Project Canvas risks isolating the UK as a "technological island" in a global market by trying to create a standard IPTV set-top box for just the UK. BSkyB continuously strongly criticised the project funding, saying that public money will be used to give public service broadcasters a foothold in the valuable IPTV, to the disadvantage of "the private sector". It was reported BSkyB was likely to raise state aid complaints if it appears that the BBC is shouldering the costs of developing the venture for its partners. Sky estimated that it would lose four percent of revenue as a result of the project. On 4 March 2010, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' learned that Neil Berkett,

's chief executive, would tell the Cable Congress in Brussels "the BBC Trust's consultation has been a shameless whitewash that contravenes almost every principle of good regulation." Berkett objected to proposals to force all broadcasters to use a single 'Project Canvas' brand controlled by the BBC and its partners, which he claimed would have penalised commercial rivals. On 28 April 2010, Neil Berkett confirmed that Virgin Media had made a submission to the Office of Fair Trading over Project Canvas, stating "Canvas needs to be an open platform but it is closed and will require a econddedicated set-top box." He added that he considered it a misuse of the licence fee to create a product that was not accessible to all the public. "It is funded by the BBC licence fee and should be available everywhere, on a Virgin Box, a PS3 and even a Sky box.". On 14 June 2010, Neil Berkett revealed to The Guardian that "Far from trying to block the development of these open standards, we have offered to work commercially with Canvas to explore mutually beneficial ways in which we could incorporate them as a self-contained service in the next generation of Virgin Media set-top boxes."

Ofcom complaints

On 3 August 2010,

lodged a complaint with

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

claiming that Project Canvas is anti-competitive. On 18 August 2010, IP Vision formally complained to Ofcom, calling on the regulator to examine the impact Project Canvas would have on innovation, competition and consumer choice. IP Vision is challenging the validity of Project Canvas, under the 1998 Competition Act. On 30 August 2010,

Six TV Six TV was the sixth free to air terrestrial television channel in the United Kingdom, broadcast in Oxford and Southampton. It was the final analogue network to have been launched after BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. It ope ...

, the largest holder of analogue television

restricted service licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...

s in the UK (none of which are in use), announced that it would formally request a full Ofcom investigation of Canvas, warning that it could be a "poison pill" for regional broadcasters. Six TV will also submit its complaint regarding Canvas – which includes broader concerns regarding anti-competitive practices affecting digital television transmission in the UK – to the Office of Fair Trading. Six TV also intends to lobby communications minister

Ed Vaizey Edward Henry Butler Vaizey, Baron Vaizey of Didcot, (born 5 June 1968) is a British politician, media columnist, political commentator and barrister who was Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries from 2010 to 2016. A memb ...

. On 9 September 2010, United For Local TV an umbrella group which represents five local broadcasters with restricted service licenses (including Six TV), asked Ofcom to investigate the Project Canvas connected-TV venture on competition grounds. On 13 September 2010, the Open Source Consortium, the UK trade body for organisations working in Open Source Software, submitted a formal objection to Ofcom asking it to investigate the project. In its submission to the media regulator, the OSC said that Canvas will have "adverse consequences" for the device and software sector by "diminishing consumer choice and causing inevitable consumer harm". On 24 September 2010, ISBA – the trade body representing advertisers, joined a growing list of parties asking Ofcom to investigate YouView. ISBA director of media and advertising Bob Wootton believed that the project could represent a "quasi-monopoly". Wootton also claimed that the BBC Trust's recent consultation on Canvas/YouView was "insufficient" for a platform that would carry advertising. On 28 September 2010, Electra Entertainment – a UK-based IPTV service provider, complained to media regulator Ofcom that YouView would "damage" the UK's interactive TV sector. Electra at the time developed an IPTV platform called Trove which brought media services to the TV screen through

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

-branded Freeview set top boxes. Electra believes that "the proposed vision, shareholder structure and aims of YouView are anti-competitive and significantly damage the UK interactive TV market". On 13 October 2010, British Sky Broadcasting submitted a last-minute complaint to Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading. News of Sky's move prompted an angry reaction from the YouView chief executive, Richard Halton, "While we welcome justifiable scrutiny, the timing of this submission is clearly designed to extend the regulatory process in pursuit of commercial self-interest rather than the public interest". On 19 October 2010, Ofcom announced that it would not open an investigation into Project Canvas (YouView) under the Competition Act following complaints made by Virgin Media and IPVision. The regulator said that it is "premature" to open an investigation into YouView, as "whether or not YouView and its partners will harm competition in the ways alleged will depend upon how this emerging market develops and how they act, particularly in relation to providing access to content and issuing technical standards".

References

External links

Official website
{{Media in the United Kingdom, television Mass media companies established in 2010 British companies established in 2010 2018 establishments in the United Kingdom 2010 establishments in the United Kingdom 2012 establishments in the United Kingdom BT Group TalkTalk Group BBC New Media ITV (TV network) Channel 4 Channel 5 (British TV channel) Digital television Streaming television Interactive television Linux-based devices Consumer electronics Digital television in the United Kingdom

Content

YouView from BT

YouView from Plusnet

YouView from TalkTalk

Features

Technical information

Set-top boxes

History and development

Management

Development

Regulatory approval and controversy

Objections to the approval

Ofcom complaints

See also

References

External links