Digital UK partners BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and network operator Arqiva have signed a new five year agreement to accelerate the transition of the Freeview Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service to a fully hybrid platform. The group hopes to provide the best in free-to-view live and on-demand TV in the UK.
The long awaited subscription-free digital TV and catch-up TV (YouView) for UK household has finally arrived. According to the YouView site, the YouView boxes are now available to buy from a range of high-street and online retail outlets. YouView ISP partners TalkTalk and BT are now offering their customers YouView set-top box as part of their TV, phone and broadband packages.
The annual Connected Home Global Summit and Awards Gala returns to London for its 4th and 2nd year. The event offers visitor the opportunity to hear from those at the forefront of the connected home services sector first hand. Speakers at this year’s summit include some of the UK’s and Europe’s leading service providers such as Vodafone, BBC, BT and Telefónica. The event is a mixture of presentations, panel discussions and breaks for you to network, allowing you to learn about the next generation of connected home solutions.
US based Video-on-Demand provider Netflix has launched its VOD subscription service in the UK and Ireland. For has little has GB£ 5.99 (US$ 9.25) in the UK and €6.99 in Ireland, subscribers get instant and unlimited access to a broad range of films and TV programmes. Partners for the service include Sony, Viacom, BBC, Disney UK and Ireland, Channel4’s 4oD, Lionsgate UK and many more.
Talk Talk who is a member of the YouView project has announced that they are planning an internal trial of the service. The company said they are hoping to start in the first quarter 2012 before the general go live date in spring. YouView was suppose to have gone live in 2011 but was delayed due to different issues.
After two years in the making the BBC Trust has formally annoucnced what is to become of Project Canvas, its planned internet TV service. They have renamed it to from Canvas to YouView and said the service is expected to go live in early 2011. The service like Freeview will allow UK households to watch live television except it will be through a Set-top Box via their broadband connection. There is one added partner (Arqiva) to the original five (ITV, BT, Five, C4 and Talk Talk).
The canvas project is in its final stage of consultation and has been given a provisional approval by the BBC Trust. Project Canvas was setup to allow UK viewers with broadband connection to watch on their Television set on-demand TV such as BBC iPlayer and ITV Player. Homes with compatible set-top box connected to the internet could access content provision through Canvas without needing to pay for the content.