UK incumbent BT may be preparing to offer YouView to its broadband customers for free, surmises Media Week in an interview with BT Vision chief Andy Baker. When questioned directly by the publication, Baker did not deny this.
In an interview with…
UK incumbent BT may be preparing to offer YouView to its broadband customers for free, surmises Media Week in an interview with BT Vision chief Andy Baker. When questioned directly by the publication, Baker did not deny this.
In an interview with TelecomFinance published on November 21, Andy Baker said that YouView would be “operated on a cost recovery basis and therefore BT (as an equal partner) will not seek to exploit the platform for commercial gain”.
What he did say was that BT will offer the new IPTV service to consumers in a variety of packages when it launches next year.
YouView is a joint venture among BT and communications companies including Arqiva, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and TalkTalk, which will together offer content to consumers through a box.
Speaking to TelecomFinance, a BT spokesperson said “YouView may be offered at special rates as part of new or improved broadband packages.”
Earlier in the year, 13 companies, including BSkyB and Virgin Media, called for UK telecoms regulator Ofcom to launch a competition review around the YouView project. They claimed that YouView’s backers would have an incentive to withhold content from competing IPTV platforms.
However, Ofcom concluded that it would be premature to investigate YouView, on the basis that it was still a new project in the emerging IPTV sector.
Having recently struck a deal with the BBC, BT will also soon offer BBC iPlayer on-demand services to BT Vision customers.
