UK IPTV venture YouView must share technical specifications well ahead of next year’s launch to allow smaller rivals a chance to compete, argues Eddie Abrams, CEO of London-based rival IPVision.
YouView escaped a competition review on October 19, when UK…
UK IPTV venture YouView must share technical specifications well ahead of next year’s launch to allow smaller rivals a chance to compete, argues Eddie Abrams, CEO of London-based rival IPVision.
YouView escaped a competition review on October 19, when UK regulator Ofcom dismissed calls for an inquiry from local satellite broadcaster BSkyB and 12 other parties.
Ofcom ruled that it would be premature to launch such an investigation because IPTV is an emerging sector and YouView is still early in development.
However, the regulator did acknowledge the potential consumer harm that could result from the JV partners, which include British telcos BT and TalkTalk, failing to share technical specifications and restricting the supply of content.
Speaking to TelecomFinance, Abrams said YouView’s commitments in both areas already fall short of the pledges made by the BBC Trust, another partner in the JV, as part of its conditions for approval of the venture.
He is calling on the JV partners to honour these commitments and adhere to the principles of fairness outlined in Ofcom’s ruling.
“YouView’s technical standards must be made available in a timely, fair and transparent manner to other players in the market to avoid the potential for consumer harm,” he said.
“We are calling on YouView’s partners to ensure technical specifications are published in a fair way and in sufficient detail for third parties to implement both for use in concert with the YouView trademark and also for competing digital TV implementations.”
