YouView boss Richard Halton has insisted all of the platform’s shareholders “are pleased” with its progress and see it as a way to further “their own individual goals”.
YouView is a joint venture between the UK’s pSB broadcasters – BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, ISPs TalkTalk and BT, and transmission and IPTV company Arqiva.
Halton’s comments, made in an interview with IP&TV News, come just weeks after the Guardian newspaper claimed the broadcasters were planning to quit the platform rather than renew their funding agreement.
The paper’s claims have been repeatedly denied by shareholders who issued the following joint statement:
“YouView is the fastest growing TV service in the UK and all of the shareholders are pleased with the progress made in just 18 months. All 7 shareholders remain committed to YouView and are confident of finalising the renewed shareholders agreement by the end March.”
In addition, the BBC said:
“We are committed to YouView and are confident of finalising the renewed shareholders agreement by the end of March.”
Halton told IP&TV News that the platform was happy with the content mix it offered and planned to add more content providers this year.
In recent months YouView has added industry-leading accessibility features, Pay-Per-View movies from Sky Box Office and catch-up content from Really and Yesterday and a S4C video on demand player.
The CEO used the interview to repeat previous comments that YouView’s core audience was further behind with technology adoption than tech and industry pundits tend to assume.