YouView plans fresh updates

YouView is planning a string of updates for the coming months, as it aims to take “connected TV into the mainstream.”

Speaking at the Westminster Media Forum seminar in London, YouView CEO Richard Halton said that it the next-generation UK Freeview service was lining up a second-screen app for Android devices in the coming weeks while infrastructure upgrades in the summer would bring further developments.

“We are working very hard on the second screen experience. There is a YouView app that allows you to set recordings to the box already for iOS, and there is one coming in weeks, not months for Android. That second screen application experience is going to develop a bit more over time. There’s lots of clues from other platforms as to how. I’m excited about the journey that we’re on,” said Halton.

He added that infrastructure improvements were “more or less now in place” which would lead to an “exciting summer ahead.”

Halton claimed that YouView had already had four major software upgrades since launch, including one this week that updated the EPG and programme filters and also now lets users go into their settings to see how many internet channels they have.

YouView launched in the UK last year and is backed by the UK terrestrial broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, as well as technology firm Arqiva and service providers BT and Talk Talk – which have both deployed their YouView-powered TV offerings.

Halton said that while it was still “early days” for YouView – which was hit by a string of delays before its launch – the service has been well received by consumers. He admitted that YouView was a “small fish in a very big sea” but said it had a mission to make connected TV a mainstream proposition, adding that it was an exciting time for the industry as a whole.