• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SEENIT

TV, Film, Broadband, Pay-TV, Games, Computing and Tech | News, Comment & Reviews

  • NEWS
  • FEATURES
  • ADVERTISE
  • Twitter

According to the Guardian, the Guardian was wrong about YouView’s shareholder funding

March 26, 2014 - Martin Hoscik@seenituk

YouView_Scroll_Back_Still.003As regular readers may recall, back in February the Guardian excitedly declared the BBC “is withdrawing its support” from YouView and that it and all other broadcaster shareholders were going to leave “BT and TalkTalk as the major shareholders”.

The claims were regurgitated and amplified both on forums and other news sites and have become an ‘internet fact’.

But, as I said a number of times, the story didn’t stack up.

In my questioning of the Guardian’s claims, I suggested the following could happen:

“it’s entirely possible that BT and TalkTalk will end up putting more into the platform than other shareholders in order to ensure that the BBC and other PSBs aren’t subsidising their commercial activities, with each ISP paying towards features only they use.”

Dial forward two months and the paper now reports:

“As the prime financial beneficiaries of YouView, BT and TalkTalk, who will make much more than other partners by cashing in on subscription TV revenues, will be expected to shoulder the bulk of development costs such as moving YouView into mobile and IP services that do not require set-top boxes.”

which looks remarkably close to my suggestion.

So does this extra ISP funding mean, as the Guardian claimed in February, that they’ll be left calling the shots?

No.

Today it reports:

“the internet service providers will not get an upper hand in decision making as a result of their increased financial obligations.”

this is because:

“the seven shareholders will each retain equal ownership”.

So much for claims that BT and TalkTalk would emerge “as the major shareholders”.

The paper doesn’t seem able to admit to its earlier inaccuracy – there’s currently no link back to its February story in today’s debunking of it – instead it refers vaguely to “some critics” who “accused BT and TalkTalk of hijacking the venture to their own pay-TV ends.”

But there’s no mention of how these claims originated in, and were amplified by, the Guardian which has fuelled months of inaccurate re-reporting and gossip.

Perhaps in future a little more caution might be needed when reading the Guardian’s coverage of YouView – a service it has a decidedly downbeat attitude towards?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Related

Tagged With: TalkTalk

Blu-ray and Gaming Top Buys

David Attenborough’s A Perfect Planet is getting a 4K Blu-ray release

Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford reunite in trailer for Season 24 Blu-ray release

Batman: Soul Of The Dragon comes to DVD and Blu-ray next month

RECENT

BT Sport to show 26 Premier League games this month

Godzilla vs. Kong: Watch the brand-new trailer

Robert Kirkman’s Invincible is coming to Amazon Prime Video

Watch Danielle Macdonald, Hugh Skinner and Joanna Lumley in Falling for Figaro trailer

Popular

Sky bags first run rights to Entertainment One catalogue

Freesat adds BBC Sounds to app line-up

Coming To America sequel to get global release on Amazon Prime Video

Hitman developers announce new James Bond game

Featured

Ofcom calls for greater social and geographic diversity in TV and radio

BT Sport app now available on Now TV devices

StarzPlay is now available from Rakuten TV

Britbox – What does the new UK-centric streaming service offer?

Popular Topics

  • Amazon Prime Video
  • BritBox
  • Freeview Play
  • Set Top Box Reviews

ADVERTISE ON SEENIT

We’re pleased to offer a number of advertising opportunities to high quality brands including sponsored content, competitions and advertising placements.

Please contact us for details.

MORE FROM US

Copyright © 2021 · All Rights Reserved · Contact Us · Copyright · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy
MayorWatch Publications Limited · 20-22 Wenlock Road · London N1 7GU · Company Number 6291816