YouView TV Ltd is a British media company, a partnership of four broadcasters: the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5; and two telecommunications operators, BT Group and TalkTalk Group (formerly also Arqiva). It launched in 2012 the hybrid television platform named YouView, which was formed from an ambitious project between the UK's four terrestrial broadcasters originally titled Project Canvas.
The YouView service was developed as an open platform to combine free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) channels from Freeview using an aerial connection, with TV on demand ("catch-up TV") services using a broadband internet connection, without any subscription. YouView PVR set-top boxes have been sold at retail or built into certain Sony Bravia TV sets. The software has most notably been used by BT and TalkTalk for use on their subscription services BT TV, Plusnet TV, and TalkTalk TV.
Though originally intending to compete against Freeview and Freesat, YouView as an independent retail product struggled to take off, with BT and TalkTalk becoming its main beneficiaries. This led to the broadcasters launching the similar Freeview Play platform in 2015. In recent years, YouView has streamlined itself and has worked with both BT and TalkTalk to support their IPTV platforms while the broadcasters have since come together as Everyone TV. In December 2023, YouView said it was working with Everyone TV to help launch the new Freely service.
Content The YouView hardware is a digital terrestrial television DVB-T2 HD set-top box that provides viewing and recording of all free-to-air channels available on digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom. There is no access to some streamed channels in the 225–256 range on Freeview, as YouView lacks support for the MHEG-5 integration channel used by these channels to provide them over IP.
Additional content is provided over a broadband internet connection, with channels that can be viewed and recorded in the same way as the free-to-air channels and can also be accessed via the YouView menu and EPG via the search function. On demand players vary as rentals, on demand, subscription and catch-up (correct as of 2020): BBC iPlayer (catch-up) ITVX (catch-up) STV Player (catch-up) Channel 4 (catch-up & on-demand) 5 (catch-up) Milkshake! (catch-up) BritBox (part of ITVX Premium since the closure of the standalone service on 30 April 2024) Pop Player (catch-up) Ketchup TV, Sports Channel Network, YAAAS!, PLANET KNOWLEDGE, On demand 365 (free on-demand players) U (catch-up) Watch Free UK (catch-up) TalkTalk Player (for TalkTalk customers only) BT TV Player (for BT customers only) NOW (subscription) Netflix (subscription) Amazon Prime Video (subscription) BBC Sounds (catch-up & on-demand radio) Sky Store (rental + buy & keep) Since been removed from Youview.
YouView from BT
BT Infinity subscribers can access additional live IPTV channels via the YouView EPG. Customers who subscribe to EE TV will receive either a YouView+ box (with recording capabilities), or a standard YouView box (no recording capabilities), or a YouView Ultra HD box – depending on the subscription type taken. They can then view on-demand content through the BT TV Player.
YouView from Plusnet Plusnet 'Unlimited Fibre' customers could until 2021 subscribe to Plusnet's 'YouView TV from Plusnet' service, with provision through both the full range of available Freeview channels and by channels live-streamed through the Internet (IPTV), in both Standard Definition and High Definition. Subscribers choose either a standard YouView box or YouView+ box, the latter with the ability to pause and rewind live TV, and a recording capacity of up to 150 hours of HD, or 300 hours of SD Freeview, Entertainment and BT Sport Lite channels, which are included as standard. Both boxes also provide access to the 'on demand' players from the main broadcasters: BBC iPlayer, the ITV Hub, All 4 and My 5.
YouView from TalkTalk
A free YouView box is provided to TalkTalk Plus or Essentials customers taking out a fixed term contract and allow access to the content previously available from TalkTalk TV. Content that TalkTalk provides, such as film rentals and box sets, are available from the TalkTalk Player application within the YouView menu bar. In the TalkTalk Player, there are 'boosts' that customers can buy for a minimum of one month, and customers can watch and record them from the main guide the same as Freeview channels. These boosts range from Sky premium channels, sports, TV box sets, films, and foreign language channels. TalkTalk use their own brand of Huawei-manufactured boxes, with the TalkTalk logo on the front, a remote control with a direct button on the TalkTalk Player, and a 320 GB hard drive for Plus TV customers. Essentials customers cannot record, but can still pause live TV. Unlike BT, customers do not need a fibre broadband package to access the service.
Features The original purpose of YouView was to combine web streamed television and traditional television together in one box. The service was initially marketed as those who did not have an existing subscription to Sky, Virgin or BT TV. One of YouView's features is the electronic programming guide (EPG) that can scroll backwards up to 7 days and that integrates directly with the respective channel's catch-up service.
Technical information On 14 April 2011, YouView published its final core technical specification. The minimum specifications for a YouView-enabled digital terrestrial television (DTT) high-definition (HD) digital video recorder (DVR or PVR) product require: Twin DVB-T/DVB-T2 tuners Embedded Linux 2.6.23 or later operating system Maximum of 26 dB of fan noise 4K UHD (Ultra HD) graphics plane MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video HDMI 2.1 socket TOSLINK optical or coaxial S/PDIF connection Up to 5.1 surround sound Ethernet port supporting 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX 802.11n wireless network support, integrated, or via a USB adapter 950 MHz central processing unit (CPU) Two Universal Serial Bus USB 2.0 sockets Support for USB mass storage devices
Analogue HD outputs are forbidden as part of the rights management strategy.
Set-top boxes Set-top boxes available for the YouView service: Humax DTR-T1000 (launch date 24 July 2012). Humax DTR-T1000 with BT brand (launch date 1 September 2012). This includes the BT brand and an extra menu item "BT Vision". Humax DTR-T1010 (launch date 19 March 2013). The functionally and hardware is exactly the same to the previous DTR-T1000 with different appearance. Humax DTR-T2000 (launch date 14 June 2014). Minor redesign and slightly smaller than the previous T1010 design. Humax DTR-T2100 with BT YouView+ brand (launch date 25 February 2014). Redesign which is significantly smaller and quieter than previous Humax Youview boxes (because power transformer at plug). Humax DTR-T2110 with BT YouView+ brand. Humax DTR-T2120 with Plusnet YouView+ brand. Humax DTR-T4000 with BT YouView+ Ultra HD brand (later marketed as BT TV box). Huawei DN360T with TalkTalk brand (launch date 5 March 2013). No recording is available. Huawei DN370T with TalkTalk brand (launch date 5 March 2013). Recording is available. Huawei DN371T YouView+ (launch date 5 March 2014). Huawei DN372T with TalkTalk brand. Recording is available. Sagemcom RTIW387 with BT brand (marketed as BT TV Box Pro, launch date 4 June 2021).
Note 1: each YouView box comes in a variety of hard disk storage sizes, and is often designated by ModelNo/StorageSize – e.g. DTR-T1000/500GB
Note 2: The only box that supports Wi-Fi is the Sagemcom RTIW387, all others must connect directly to the router or through power-line adapters.
Note 3: YouView+ has become the designated way to show the set-top box records TV programmes. This is because of services offered by TalkTalk TV.
History and development Project Canvas was initially announced as a partnership between the BBC, BT and ITV plc, following the failure of Project Kangaroo, a proposed video-on-demand service offering content from BBC Worldwide, ITV.com, and Channel 4's 4oD, which was blocked in February 2009 on competition grounds, and only led to the short lived SeeSaw service. The Project Canvas proposal was published by the BBC a few weeks after Kangaroo's cancellation. Canvas differed from Kangaroo in that it was a proposed TV platform (a device that would deliver internet-connected TV), rather than a video-on-demand service (that would act as a single content portal, much like the music video equivalent VEVO).
On 30 July 2009, Project Canvas announced that Five had signed up to the project. On 9 July 2010, Five announced that it would not pursue further involvement in Project Canvas, pending a review of its digital investment strategy. On 24 August 2010, Five re-joined Project Canvas, following their acquisition by Northern & Shell. On 16 December 2009, Project Canvas announced that Channel 4 and TalkTalk had also signed up to the project. On 22 March 2010 transmission firm Arqiva joined as an equal partner in the project.
On 17 May 2010 the then Project Canvas director Richard Halton said: "We have also put out an invitation for an eighth partner, and we would like a company that can add scale and expertise to the platform. It is a question of finding an organisation that shares the aims of the venture." It was later reported that, EE, the UK operations of Orange and T-Mobile, had decided against joining, after holding advanced discussions.
Management On 23 July 2010 Kip Meek was announced as the non-executive chairman of Project Canvas. Meek left YouView on 7 March 2011, and was replaced by Alan Sugar with immediate effect, who was brought on board by Channel 5's Richard Desmond. The move was partly based on his experience with set-top boxes, in particular that of Sky, and partly due to his likely influence in retaining confidence in the various partners. Alan Sugar stepped down as Chairman in March 2013 following a "boardroom bust-up" with Desmond, with TalkTalk group chairman Sir Charles Dunstone taking on the chairmanship as an interim position. In October 2013 Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment chairman Simon Duffy was named as non-executive chairman of YouView on a permanent basis.
Development On 13 November 2009, BBC Future Media and Technology director Erik Huggers previewed the work-in-progress user interface that could power the Project Canvas at C21 Media's FutureMedia conference in London. The mock-up of how the Beijing Olympic Games would look on Canvas allowed users to watch highlights instantly, send clips to friends, monitor what's being said on Twitter, access archives at the touch of a button, and use commercial third party applications and services.
Morgan Stanley compiled a creative analysis for BT about the potential impact of Canvas, describing it as "Freeview 2.0". As Canvas was to be an open platform, Stanley's report noted that content providers would no longer need to pay the current sum of around £10m for capacity on digital terrestrial television to reach their target audience.