YouView unlikely to start cord cutting
By Chris Dziadul
Published: December 8, 2010 17.20 Europe/London

UK consumers are underwhelmed by YouView, as they currently understand it, with only around 4% of all TV homes in the country “very likely” to reconsider their pay-TV choice for the main set in the light of the YouView offering.

This surprising finding was provided by Mark Oliver, chief executive, Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates, in a presentation entitled Making Money in the On Demand Media Age.

Among the other findings, based on a company survey undertaken last month, were that a much higher percentage of TV homes (18%) were “quite likely” to switch to YouView on their main set and 6% “quite likely” on their second one.

Oliver conceded that viewers may not yet know enough about YouView and could change their consumption habits from next year.

Speaking in a panel discussion, YouView chief executive Richard Halton said that, “we are trying to achieve a seamless blend of linear and on demand through a single common interface.”

He added: “The biggest threat to YouView is confusion and apathy. YouView has to simply and clearly peg out the territory of connected TV.”