YouView, perhaps under some pressure following its delay and its chair’s exit, has named 29 companies it will work with to finalise its specifications.
They are…
-
Content partners: Blinkbox, Blinkx, BSkyB, Film4oD, Golant Media Ventures, Guardian News & Media, IndieMoviesOnline, LOVEFiLM, Pushbutton, Radioplayer, Stream UK, STV, Travel Channel, Tvinci, UTV and woomi.
-
Technology partners: Alcatel-Lucent, Blinkx, Capablue, Deluxe, easeltv, IMD, ioko, Kaltura, Nativ, Ooyala, Red Bee Media, Technicolor, TripleSEE and Twofour.
There are few surprises on this list, except for BSkyB (NYSE: BSY). The satcaster, which operates its own Sky Anytime+ VOD on its boxes and has its Sky Player on numerous third-party IPTV boxes, has routinely lodged sceptical submissions to the regulatory processes around YouView.
But the regulatory processes are over. BSkyB’s inclusion on this list must be a clear sign that Sky is working with the YouView partners – BBC, ITV (LSE: ITV), Channel 4, Channel 5, BT (NYSE: BT) TalkTalk and Arqiva – to bring Sky Player to YouView as well.
Update: BSkyB tells paidContent:UK: “We already distribute Sky content across a wide range of platforms. It makes sense for us to continue to explore new ways of reaching customers, but it’s too early to say at this stage whether we’ll offer a service over YouView.”
YouView had in November invited such potential partners to come aboard, judged against its own criteria for involvement. Today, it says “hundreds” submitted.
Says the JV: “Through YouView’s technical development groups, this industry advisory group is informing processes and guidelines which will be published this year. All content providers – including those that form its advisory group – will later this year, be invited by YouView to confirm their formal intention to making content available via the platform.”