Retail YouView IPTV Set-Top-Box Owners Annoyed by BT and TalkTalk Logos

Retail owners of the YouView (IPTV and PVR) based set-top-box, which has been developed as part of a Joint Venture between some of the UK’s biggest names in TV and broadband, are being annoyed by a new update that makes the BT and TalkTalk logos more prominent.

YouView, which is also sold as part of a premium TV service by a number of ISPs (e.g. BT, TalkTalk, JT etc.), is jointly developed by BT, TalkTalk, BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV and Arqiva. However until recently the influence of those partners, at least cosmetically on the User Interface (UI), has been fairly low key for owners of the generic retail box (i.e. those who didn’t buy it from an ISP).

However this appears to have changed when the Humax software update v27.46.0 began rolling out recently, which forms part of YouView’s major “next generation” update that will enable the platform to do more, work faster and harness Cloud technology (details).

Aside from a few gripes about new and missing features (Discover, Edit Channels and the Action Panel should return eventually), a number of users also noticed something else. Owners of the generic retail YouView boxes are now seeing a lot more of the BT TV and TalkTalk TV logos than before (these were initially present, but much less noticeable).

YouView Customer ‘Fed-up from Cambridge’ said:

“I have also had a new update today. I bought my box less than a month ago and didn’t buy an advertising vehicle for BT. Why does my box say BT TV? Also where is my list of recordings? Not pictures a list?”

YouView Customer ‘Steve D’ said:

“The update (which didn’t request permission before it installed) boasts an improved user experience, but actually appears to do more harm to UX than good.

For starters, I can’t revert the update.

Next, I can’t turn off future auto updates.

I don’t want to see TalkTalk TV logos when I don’t subscribe to their service.

The new picture-driven Recorded list is almost unusable.”

YouView Customer ‘James’ said:

“I hate this update! It has incorporated the BTTV interface into my Humax T2000 YouView box which means I now have to have the BTTV logo in the top of the screen. I have not subscribed to BTTV and have no intention of doing so. I bought this Humax T2000 box from John Lewis and I will make sure they are aware of this new BTTV interface.”

YouView Customer ‘caroline’ said:

“Me too. Why does my Humax box now have a BT TV logo on the screens?”

YouView Customer ‘JimS’ said:

“BT may be my ISP but, as a non-BT TV subscriber, I object to the prominent placement of its logo on the guide.”

Further remarks can be found dotted all over the YouView Community Forum and SEENIT are also covering the issue, which at least in some cases appears to occur when the box detects that the customer is using either a BT or TalkTalk based broadband connection. This happens even if the owner doesn’t subscribe to the TV service or get their box from either of those providers.

At the time of writing YouView has not responded to customers’ and we’re wondering whether the change is either intentional or a bug. Alternatively we do recall that the BBC were interesting in getting out of the YouView game and handing the reins to BT (here), which is perhaps another possible reason for the recent changes.