ITV PLC New Shareholder Agreement with YouView TV Limited

jimb

"ITV, the BBC, BT, Channel 4, TalkTalk and Channel 5 have agreed a new shareholders' agreement for YouView..."

"...ITV and the BBC have each committed to contribute GBP750,000 to YouView each financial year from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2024..."

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/itv-ITV/share-news/ITV-PLC-New-Shareholder-Agreement-with-YouView-TV/87421991

Joe

Interesting. Had presumed incorrectly that the public broadcasters were washing their hands of Youview.  With continued investment like that by the public broadcasters its more likely we’ll see new retail boxes, or perhaps Youview smart TV innovation. Would be strange to continue funding Youview if that were not the case…I’ll keep an eye on this space 

Joe

…although still no Amazon app on Youview retail though. Which IMO puts a big question mark on retail Youview. As with Youview as a whole, it needs the big apps to remain competitive.

Visionman

Joe said:

…although still no Amazon app on Youview retail though. Which IMO puts a big question mark on retail Youview. As with Youview as a whole, it needs the big apps to remain competitive.

 Joe, I'm sorry to tell you this but retail YouView is dead, and I'm almost crying about it as its the best non-subscription box I've ever had. 

Joe

@Visionman that’s been my feeling too for a while. But i’m raising an eyebrow at jimbs linked article above. Have you read it? Why do the public broadcasters continue to put money into Youview? Surely the bbc wouldn’t spending tax payers money to prop up BT?  

What do they get in return? 

If retail is dead, why the continued investment? 

You may well be right, but there’s  a lot of unanswered questions. 

Visionman

I have no doubt Roy will be along shortly to give his two tuppence.

Visionman

As someone else just said on the internet ITVX sounds like a porn channel. 

Joe

Oh dear. Makes you wonder who on earth is making the decisions at itv  🤣

Ash

Visionman said:

As someone else just said on the internet ITVX sounds like a porn channel. 

@Visionman
you get a like to making me laugh 

kodikid

Visionman said:

As someone else just said on the internet ITVX sounds like a porn channel. 

Here's hoping. 

Roy

Visionman said:

I have no doubt Roy will be along shortly to give his two tuppence.

@Visionman

Penny ha’penny, tops. (Two tuppence is a groat. Thruppenny bit, tanner, bob, florin, halt-a-crown, crown, ten bob note, quid (paper), where are they now?)

But I share your, and the market’s, scepticism; content is key, not what the service is called, and where are itv going to get any content they haven’t got now?

But as regards it being on YouView, it’s almost unthinkable to consider it won’t be; itv hub is going, itv is still contributing to YouView (and despite the hype, this is just the continuation of the existing arrangement), so without it there would be an itv-shaped hole (albeit rather a small one) in YouView’s catchup offering.

And likewise FreeView Play. I’m not sure how a Player would interact with Freesat though, except as a replacement for the itv hub on a Freesat box with apps?

I also wonder what will happen with the STV player, which carries all the itv channels except for the main one - STVX?

Joe

Mulling this over the new funding agreement with the public broadcasters is only for another 2 years. That’s a pretty short time compared to the last agreement which ran for 5 years iirc. 

Perhaps this is a winding down, grace period of funding before the public broadcasters leave Youview entirely?  If retail is indeed dead, and not just awaiting a new hardware deal with a manufacturer, then that makes sense. 

I just can’t see the justification for public service broadcasters to continue to fund Youview if it’s BT that’s pretty much the sole beneficiary.

Youview retail users still get software updates, probably until the end the the life cycle of the T2000, which could well tally up with the new 2 year funding agreement. 

  

Roy

Joe said:

Mulling this over the new funding agreement with the public broadcasters is only for another 2 years. That’s a pretty short time compared to the last agreement which ran for 5 years iirc. 

Perhaps this is a winding down, grace period of funding before the public broadcasters leave Youview entirely?  If retail is indeed dead, and not just awaiting a new hardware deal with a manufacturer, then that makes sense. 

I just can’t see the justification for public service broadcasters to continue to fund Youview if it’s BT that’s pretty much the sole beneficiary.

Youview retail users still get software updates, probably until the end the the life cycle of the T2000, which could well tally up with the new 2 year funding agreement. 

  

@joe

BT are putting in about three times as much as the other partners all together.

So I wonder who is subsidising who? 

Except that everybody is unquestionably subsidising YouView 😛

Visionman

I wonder 'what about TalkTalk?' It all seems to have gone quiet on that front.

kodikid

TalkTalk currently offer a Netgem freeview play 4K box as it's TV offering and have apparently abandoned youview hence the deafening silence. 

jimb

kodikid said:

TalkTalk currently offer a Netgem freeview play 4K box as it's TV offering and have apparently abandoned youview hence the deafening silence. 

I suggest you have a look at this:
    https://new.talktalk.co.uk/tv-fibre-broadband
See if you can spot the box with the word YouView on it. 

kodikid

Typed in my address and no mention of tv.
Sadly and really bloody frustrating Virgin are the only fibre supplier where I live and as TalkTalk only offer tv boxes with fibre packages I'll have to take your word for it.

jimb

@kodikid you don't have to take my word for it, you just need to scroll down the page.
I'll make it easy for you...

Stevef_fr8ys

And spot the YouView in the spokesperson comment here.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/03/isps-bt-and-talktalk-sign-uk-tv-deal-to-keep-youview-until-2024.html

And given the spokesperson could have been poached from YouView.....

Roy

jimb said:

kodikid said:

TalkTalk currently offer a Netgem freeview play 4K box as it's TV offering and have apparently abandoned youview hence the deafening silence. 

I suggest you have a look at this:
    https://new.talktalk.co.uk/tv-fibre-broadband
See if you can spot the box with the word YouView on it. 

@jimb @kodikid

I saw it! 

So NetGem only for the top tier, and YouView safe for a couple more years, barring a nuclear holocaust.

But this is a one-tuner box, no hard drive, which is elsewhere described as having a USB recording capability, though TalkTalk make no mention of this.

But one tuner only makes it at best a zapper plus; and I don’t know if it has anything like YouView’s capabilities for scheduling recordings.

And it does have Netflix, which it didn’t at first, but it doesn’t have Now, though it says ‘coming soon’.

On the plus side, it has Atmos, it is WiFi, and there is apparently an app whereby you can watch it in a different room from where the box is, though only over the same home WiFi, not remotely when out and about.

Rental only again; you don’t get to own the box. It used to be available to buy  from Amazon, but this is no longer the case.

I could get TalkTalk here, on the same 500Mbps I have from BT, and it looks like TalkTalk would throw in an Amazon eero mesh WiFi system, pretty decent. And as they quote the retail prices of these devices, I presume they are yours to keep, though I would need to check that further.

Problem is though, that for a reasonably competent user, what can it do that you can’t already do with a smart TV, or by adding a Stick to a dumb one?
YouView is clinging on by its recording capabilities, but what is a zapper box for, these days?

Pause and rewind, and find stuff for you, maybe more? 

But Ur Goren found the ‘find stuff for you’ distracting, if you are at all active about what you want to watch:-

https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/netgem-netbox-4k-review-freeview-recorder/

Though this, and a lot of the other stuff about this NetGem box on the web, is from when the NetGem was launched upon the not waiting world a couple of years ago, and didn’t exactly take it by storm.

So maybe things have changed since, or changed for TalkTalk? Anyway, Susie is pushing it now, so let’s see where that goes.

Thought: I wonder if the TV manufacturers will think of adding pause and rewind live TV, put the last nail in the zapper box’s coffin?

Stevef_fr8ys

@Roy, when people ask about the Netgem box on the TT Forum, I describe it as a smart stick (Prime/Roku) in box form with live TV and limited recording capability.

Roy

Stevef_fr8ys said:

@Roy, when people ask about the Netgem box on the TT Forum, I describe it as a smart stick (Prime/Roku) in box form with live TV and limited recording capability.

@Stevef_fr8ys

For those of us with weak bladders and wives who ask “Who just shot who?”, you should perhaps in fairness mention the pause and rewind live TV capability 😛

Visionman

I fear the days of PVR's are coming to an end...

Roy

Visionman said:

I fear the days of PVRs are coming to an end...

@Visionman
That’s what Sky gambled on with Sky Glass, and its sort-of pretend ‘recording’ capability, which was actually just a somewhat larger and more persistent catchup library than the regular catchup apps provide.

But they were rather summarily pulled up short by the customer feedback pointing out the continuing gaps between that and true recording as practised by the Sky Q boxes.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that PVRs are becoming decidedly niche.

kodikid

Agreed, in place of a pvr to skip the ads 
we'll witness a two tier system where you pay a small extra fee to avoid the torturous repetitive ads.  Again Sky have started the ball rolling with Sky boost.
Believe Disney are rolling out ads but with a cheaper subscription in the near future. 

Roy

kodikid said:

Agreed, in place of a pvr to skip the ads 
we'll witness a two tier system where you pay a small extra fee to avoid the torturous repetitive ads.  Again Sky have started the ball rolling with Sky boost.
Believe Disney are rolling out ads but with a cheaper subscription in the near future. 

@kodikid

While agreeing with you about the rise of two-tier systems, I was using All4+ long before Now Boost was invented, and I think itv had a paid ‘no ads’ option on its Player even before that.

Visionman

Sky Glass is s++t. They don't record at all. These TVs just slave you to Skys system.
Avoid.

Roy

@Visionman

I record so that (i) I know I’ve got the programme even if it is supposed to appear on catchup, but doesn’t, or not for hours and (ii) so that I can keep it (subject to the vagaries of YouView reliability which lost my copy of Harrison Bergeron, a movie so obscure that JustWatch has never heard of it)) for as long as I like, and not just as long as some player provider likes.

Skipping the ads comes in at (iii). Personally, I’m amazed, if relieved, that Freeview Play didn’t make ad-skipping a no-no if you wanted your PVR to wear that badge.

Darren

I will not be too happy if Disney + start ads for a cheaper price per month.
I pay Disney + £79 a year to get ad free. As I changed from paying monthly. 5 or 6 months ago.
I agree the PVR is on a slow decline but I still at times use the Youview box to record. As there is still at lest about 10%/12% of shows that are still not on a catch up service or on demand.

kodikid

I'm afraid pvr's are on a terminal decline, it's a generational thing as the millennial tik tok/ YouTube generation grew up with streaming as the norm. 
Hence the almost complete extinction of dvd's.. one time Disney would release a movie in cinemas then make a fortune on the dvd sales. 
West Side story/ jungle cruise went straight from the cinemas to Disney plus. 
The media landscape has changed and sadly pvr's are going the way of dvd's  and will not play a part in it.

Roy

Darren said:

I will not be too happy if Disney + start ads for a cheaper price per month.
I pay Disney + £79 a year to get ad free. As I changed from paying monthly. 5 or 6 months ago.
I agree the PVR is on a slow decline but I still at times use the Youview box to record. As there is still at lest about 10%/12% of shows that are still not on a catch up service or on demand.

@Darren

I think the idea is that you can get it either as you have it now, or cheaper with ads, not ‘instead of’.

Re that rump, I have a programme about Leadbelly from Smithsonian that I couldn’t have got on catchup.