YouView have just announced that it will not be ready for release until 2012 at the earliest.

YouView was born on 16^th September; an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service that would allow users to watch programmes on their TVs via the internet. It is extremely well supported with all the UK’s terrestrial broadcasters as partners, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, as well as Arqiva, Talk Talk and BT.

All that consumers would need to do to access this service would be to buy a YouView box and have a broadband connection. You’d then be able to access a catch up service across all the partners channels, archived content as well as being able to watch live TV.

However, as YouView was born out of Project Canvas, it has also inherited its problems. Such as the opposition from Sky, which has its own on demand service “Anytime” and Virgin Media, whose on demand and catch up service comes as standard with their TV package. They argued that as the BBC was providing support it had an unfair advantage and was anti-competitive. This has been overcome for now as Ofcom decided not to open an investigation under the Competition Act, although there is a feeling that a similar objection will be made in the coming months.

In addition to the problems raised by competitors, there have been a number of technical issues which have set back the launch date back a couple of times. It was initially thought to be launched in the first half of 2011, but even then chairman Kip Meek said that a delay was inevitable. The date was then put back to the second half of 2011, now we are looking at a launch date somewhere in early 2012. The CEO, Richard Halton, has said that it would only be launched when it was ready and would not be rushed into the market, which allows a lot of breathing room for a launch date of something that has been in development for over two years.

MEC Opinion: YouView has the potential to be an incredible advancement in not only the way we watch TV but also how we engage with it. With many people already using social media to interact with TV shows live, connected TV is a natural step forward. An example of this would be having a Twitter feed running live at the side of the screen during a programme, this would increase the level of engagement as viewers are encouraged to interact.

This also could have a significant impact on advertising, opening up the possibility of the consumer being able to purchase a product live through the TV after seeing a commercial. It also creates the opportunity for geographic targeting down to street level. However, one possible stumbling block will be buffering speeds as this will be dependent on the UK’s broadband infrastructure. If all the homes currently with Freeview switch to YouView and try to access an HD IPTV service there will be an enormous strain on the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) , which means that many would be subjected to long load times and may be less enthusiastic about using the service in the future.