ISPs BT and TalkTalk Sign UK TV Deal to Keep YouView Until 2024 UPDATE
Broadband ISPs BT and TalkTalk look set to keep their respective YouView based TV services running until March 2024 after they reached a new Shareholder Agreement with the platform’s other Joint Venture partners in the broadcasting sector, including ITV, the BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Just to recap. YouView is a broadband internet (IPTV) based video-on-demand and catch-up TV platform that is being bundled by several ISPs across the United Kingdom and has also been sold at retail. Despite this, the service saw most of its adoption coming from the customers of its commercial ISP partners, rather than direct via retail.
However, YouView’s future has recently begun to look increasingly uncertain, not least with BT seeming to retreat from their previous drive toward Pay TV, in favour of a focus on FTTP broadband build (here and here). At the same time, TalkTalk has also moved to adopt rival Netgem TV and NOW TV solutions (here).
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Nevertheless a new regulatory notice from ITV suggests that YouView will continue to be supported until at least 31st March 2024.
New Shareholder Agreement with YouView TV Limited
This disclosure is being made in accordance with Listing Rule 11.1.10 R due to the fact that ITV Broadcasting Limited (“ITV”) is entering into a transaction with the BBC, which is deemed to be a related party of ITV plc under the Listing Rules.
ITV, the BBC, BT, Channel 4, TalkTalk and Channel 5 have agreed a new shareholders’ agreement for YouView which sets out, amongst other things, the governance and funding arrangements of YouView. YouView is an existing joint venture in which ITV has been a shareholder since 2010. YouView develops and maintains the software for the YouView service, currently available from BT, TalkTalk and certain Sony TVs.
Pursuant to the new agreement, ITV and the BBC have each committed to contribute £750,000 to YouView each financial year from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024. This mirrors ITV’s current annual funding obligations to YouView.
The news may be positive, but there’s a strong suspicion that this might be the last time that YouView sees such an agreement. All of YouView’s TV broadcasting partners have since turned their attention to the Freeview and Freesat platforms / services under Digital UK (Channel 5 was the last of the bunch to join this venture in December 2021).
UPDATE 3:38pm
We’ve had a comment from TalkTalk.
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A Spokesperson for TalkTalk told ISPreview.co.uk:
“We are delighted to recommit to YouView as it’s a brilliant way to access a whole world of content easily, live and on demand. We look forward to announcing new TalkTalk TV products powered by YouView soon.”
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I think BT should start offering a full IPTV service, similar to Sky Glass.
Your comment was going so well until you made reference to the extremely poor ‘Sky Glass’ product.
What do you object to about Sky Glass?
Having to buy a TV? I agree it would be good if Sky made the Pucks available as a standalone product.
They could’ve copied the Sky IPTV service they run in Italy… it’s been available since 2015 on selected ISPs and now of course on Sky Broadband (launched ISP in 2019). Never understood why it didn’t exist here in the UK, perhaps because even FTTC is just 75Mb (Italy deployed 35b so 200/20 is the line rate).
They are going to start delivering Freeview channels over their multicast network this year, which was recently confirmed by a BT employee on their customer forums.
It seems BT sales staff have been telling customers this for a few weeks now although it hasn’t officially started yet: https://community.bt.com/t5/YouView-from-BT/TV-aerial-to-watch-freeview/td-p/2214660
Whether deploying 17b or 35b, FTTC performance will still be all over the shop due to the usual issues of copper. So I don’t think that, by itself, is enough of a reason.
> Italy deployed 35b so 200/20 is the line rate
Only if you’re close enough to the cabinet to achieve that speed. In any case, TV doesn’t require anything like that amount of bandwidth.
Wasn’t Homechoice / Tiscali TV / TalkTalk TV (pre youview) IPTV over ADSL?
But have you seen the energy rating for a sky glass TV. It’s a G rating
Most TVs are now, the scales have been changed, the new TVs graded at G are as efficient if not more than the older graded A/Bs etc
“We look forward to announcing new TalkTalk TV products powered by YouView soon.”
This is interesting since they recently launch the Netgem crap.
Hopefully a new better box that more usable and maybe 4k/HDR capable?
I guess we just wait and see!
Does that affect anyone with a TV (connected by aerial to Freeview) which uses Youview for the TV programme guide? Don’t certain TV brands use Youview when you press the “Guide” button?
I remember when you view first came out, the boxes were slow and the software was total rubbish, while technology have improved now, I thought the boxes would be better, but I have from some people that they are still slow. I did think BT was getting rid of You View, since plusnet don’t offer them any more. I don’t watch normal TV myself, I don’t even have a TV licence, I have an old digital stream box, somewhere, it was a good box in its day, but the days of linier Tv viewing is on the verge of vanishing,, the days of having to wait until a certain time to watch something have gone and good job too.
The latest BT box is not slow. Older box’s were notoriously slow.
Slow or not, Freeview is a load of rubbish, awful system, out of date and rushed though by the BBc when ondigital/ITV digital went belly up. Not that it was a good system then. what they have done with Freeview is just added stuff onto a bad system>
I have seen a couple of you View boxes, even some newer ones, and they were still slow, not really impressed with Freeview play either, not much better than You view, again a newer system built onto a old and out of date system.
Even if it was good, I would not put all my eggs in one basket, and there is plenty of free content out there without having to pay.
I suspect this is just past agreements being honoured. If you go to the youview.com website and try and source a youview box direct very difficult to source, furthermore reading around various websites, it appears that there is now a world trend to get away from subscription packages which include some sort of box to view, the trend seems to be towards internet provided services and some sort of streaming device ie smart stick or smart tv. I would therefore suggest the days of subscription box packages are numbered, and, as stated at the start past agreements being honoured.
Someone needs to tell Sky that!!