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Bad news streaming fans — those looking forward to a May launch for the “revolutionary” YouView streaming TV service will be sorely disappointed. According to Lord Sugar, it’s not in any shape to launch before the end of 2012, let alone before the Olympics.
Lord Sugar is heading-up the much delayed set-top box partnership between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, TalkTalk, BT and Arquiva, and recently fired the whole YouView marketing team in true Apprentice fashion. Considering it was meant to get into our living rooms way back in 2010, we’ll be lucky if it makes it out this year.
By the time this thing is finally available it might be facing some seriously stiff competition too. Freeview alone is working on a back-in-time scrolling feature that’ll be built into its EPG, which would allow you to just stream programs already broadcast straight from your TV menu, while Sky’s on-demand services continue to expand. Still, we hold out hope that it’ll actually make it to market, and be as “revolutionary” as they say it will. Radio’s managed it, so surely free-to-air TV can finally get its arse in gear and come up with something to aggregate all our British TV streaming together, right? [Telegraph]
Yeah, it’s odd really. I would’ve thought that since the venture had failed to really get anywhere previously under the guise of Project Kangaroo, See Saw or Project Canvas that this time they would’ve really nailed it.
Especially with pantomime villain Sugar on the board….
And of course, Lord Sugar is all across this project, isn’t he? What would be wonderful would be for him to butt out of matters he doesn’t comprehend.
That wouldn’t leave much that he could talk about.