UPDATE UK YouView Broadband IPTV Service Opens Trial Registrations

Internet users in the UK who fancy joining the first “exclusive” customer trials of YouView’s (Project Canvas) broadband ISP based and subscription free video-on-demand and catch-up TV (IPTV) service can now register on their website to take part.

At present the service is only being tested by 100 staff from the Joint Venture partners (BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, TalkTalk, Arqiva, Channel 5) and, according to last weeks report (here), the new “alpha” trial has just expanded this by adding 350 homes to the service. As a result what is now open is registration for 2,200 additional trialists.

The Requirements for Taking Part

• You must be 16 years or older;
• You must be resident in the UK;
• You must have a valid television licence;
• You must have an internet connection;
• You must have an aerial capable of receiving Freeview programming; and
• You must agree to the terms and conditions of the YouView service, as notified to you from time to time.

Unfortunateily trial users will effectively be subject to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that prevents them from speaking about their experiences (fairly normal). Similarly the trial warns that “You are responsible for all of your internet service provider costs and any other expenses in your participation of the YouView Trial“, which interestingly includes “any premium content or subscriptions services you may choose to access“.

In other words you’ll need to be careful with how much you use the service, especially if you have a broadband package that limits your usage in some way. The YouView service is ideally meant to be bundled with a special ISP package but until those are established then you could risk having your access restricted or face heavy excessive use charges by using the system too much.

Trial Registration Page
https://trials.youview.com

UPDATE 8th June 2012

Correction, what is now open is registration for 2,200 trialists as the 350 homes have already been connected.