On paper YouView looks like being a phenomenal product. But delays in launching, an argument over technical standards, and other factors appear to be ruining any chances of a successful launch.

YouView

YouView is what Project Canvas used to be: an attempt to create a new connected-TV platform with partners including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, TalkTalk, BT, Arqiva, and Channel 5 pooling their resources to make it happen.

However, the problems are mounting. First, and totally unsurprisingly, BSkyB and Virgin Media raised objections to the platform, and now comes news of an enforced delay which could see YouView not appearing until the middle of next year.

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The BBC has decided not to allow its content to be syndicated in a multitude of different ways, preferring instead to keep the iPlayer interface front and center. And while the usual suspects are complaining about this, it would seem a sensible move.

Smart TV Fragmentation

In case you hadn’t noticed, the smart TV market is becoming increasingly fragmented, with a host of different companies scrambling to become the market leader now that the technology has caught up to the concept.

There are set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Roku, there are integrated platforms such as Boxee and Google TV, and television manufacturers are increasingly throwing their own proprietary software into the mix.

In these murky waters it’s easy to see your product get lost or changed beyond all recognition. And the BBC doesn’t want that to happen.

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If only all television networks could be as forward-thinking as the BBC. Then again, not all are paid for by an unavoidable tax which you can got to prison for refusing to pay. There’s always a down side.

Global Community

Most of you reading this will, at some point in the past, have watched something illegally online. We’re not talking about hardcore pornography here, but normal television programming or a mainstream movie.

The reasons for doing so vary, from price to availability, and just sheer laziness. But a big part of the problem is the way the world is divided up into territories, and each territory gets content at a different time.

That was all well and good years ago, but the Internet has changed things, and made the world a much smaller place where the idea of territorial divisions is falling apart. Unfortunately, the TV and Hollywood studios don’t seem to have realized this. At least for the most part.

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The BBC iPlayer, the publicly-funded video on demand service from the British Broadcasting Corporation, continues to grow in popularity. Usage stats for 2010 show which programs people have been watching, and which devices people are choosing to watch them on.

BBC iPlayer

The BBC iPlayer is now just over three years old, having been launched on Christmas Day 2007. In that relatively short time it has improved in terms of user experience and increased in popularity, as more people learn about online video on demand and how it can work for them.

2009 saw the iPlayer launch on several devices other than PC and Mac, and the number of requested streams increased until it topped 100 million in a month in December. But 2010 proved to be an even more important year, with more records having been broken.

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The BBC finally seems ready to take the iPlayer worldwide, but users will have to pay for the privilege and own an iPad in order to view content. At least for a while, as a subscription-based iPad app is the way the corporation is going.

Global iPlayer

The iPlayer is the BBC’s video-on-demand catchup TV and radio service. It allows those resident in the U.K. to watch or listen to content from the last seven days via their PC or on a range of different devices. My preference is the PS3.

We’ve known the BBC is planning on taking the iPlayer global for a while now. The first mention of such a venture occurred in June 2009, with the plans coming together by August 2010. By November, the BBC Trust had given its approval and a global service was expected to launch sometime in 2011.

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I’m of the firm belief that online video services should all be available globally. The Internet is global, so why limit these services by territory? The BBC looks set to be the first company to take this international step, offering the iPlayer on a global scale.

BBC iPlayer

The BBC iPlayer is an absolutely fantastic on-demand video service. In terms of offerings for British viewers it’s up there alongside Channel 4’s 4oD as the best of breed. Unfortunately, only those resident in the U.K. can watch it without some serious technical knowhow.

However, there have been rumblings of an international version of the iPlayer for quite some time, with the first mention of it occurring way back in June 2009. By August 2010 the plans seemed to be coming together, with a vague “within a year” timeline offered.

Now, a 2011 launch looks very much on the cards, with approval from the BBC Trust and the CEO of BBC Worldwide telling a British newspaper that a global iPlayer is definitely on its way.

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Surprise, surprise. In the week that regulators were set to decide whether to launch an investigation into YouView, BSkyB launches a formal complaint. There is no reason for the timing, and it’s clearly only been done at the last minute in order to delay the launch.

YouView

YouView is the recently-appointed name for what was conceived as Project Canvas. In turn, Project Canvas was born out of the remnants of Project Kangaroo, which was shuttered by the Competition Commission after objections from BSkyB and Virgin Media.

YouView is a new connected-TV platform backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, TalkTalk, BT, Arqiva, and Channel 5, and supported by at least 40 more organizations. All of which want a piece of the living room IPTV pie.

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