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Is Freeview Play anything other than the terrestrial version of Freesat’s Freetime and is it likely to develop any further given what happened to the previous incarnation of this product i.e. Youview?
What developments would you like to see?
I don’t have any views one way or another on this JamesB, though I do wonder if the launch had much more to do with the politics surrounding Youview than for any specific advancements in technology.
I just don’t see how it moves the game forward – we already have freetime on the satellite side and Youview on terrestrial. What is/has the consumer gained with Freeview Play?
A more secure future for PBS DTT broadcasting, perhaps. Time will tell.
Faust – 8 hours ago »
Is Freeview Play anything other.. the previous incarnation of this product i.e. Youview?
Freeview Play is not a product. It is the next versions of freeview and freeview+ standards which manufacturers can apply for if they want to barnd products with the associated freeview play logos at the current release of freeview’s standards for freeview play.
In the same way that freeview and freeview+ evolved the aim is to evolve and improve freeview play as a standard over the next few years.
JamesB – 5 hours ago »
A more secure future for PBS DTT broadcasting, perhaps. Time will tell.
How though? FVP is only adding an EPG that can go backwards using the current players aka freetime or Youview. There are already plenty Freeview HD recorders, some with iPlayer Netflix etc. plus Youview with the backwards EPG.
It sounds to me as though Freeview are just saying we had our Youview ball taken from us so we’ve got a new ball called Freeview Play. It may not be true but that’s how it looks.
From the 1st January all new TV’s over 32″ have now to be labelled Freeview HD with the Freeview + name being phased out by the end of this year. That is in addition to Freeview Play.
If you look HERE you will notice two distinct offerings from freeview. This is just going to cause confusion with the consumer and I suspect product fatigue.
As Luke said, Freeview is a set of standards, not a consumer product. Consumer confusion may be widespread but it would be much worse without Freeview, The development of Freeview was a major factor in the successful transition to DTT, allowing FTA broadcasting (including the PSB channels) to expand and thrive in the face of a predatory satellite competitor.
Project Canvas/YouView was intended as an attempt to extend the standards to incorporate IPTV, thus allowing FTA broadcasters a way to keep control of their own catchup/VoD content rather than being forced into the arms of deep-pocketed corporations, be they faceless American corporations or our own dear BT. As we know, in the case of YouView, BT succeeded in hijacking the project and converting the intended standard into nothing more than a proprietary box design.
Freeview Play is thus the second attempt to incorporate IPTV into the UK DTT standards. It’s too early to tell how successful it will be, but I’d say it’s looking quite promising.
JamesB – 2 hours ago »
Project Canvas/YouView was intended as an attempt to extend the
Freeview Play is thus the second attempt to incorporate IPTV into the UK DTT standards. It’s too early to tell how successful it will be, but I’d say it’s looking quite promising.
Agreed, at least with the FVP we have a recorder with the obvious missing from YouView….manual timers, padding, manual tuning etc etc.
Yes – a deliberate and telling omission, since the ability to set timers manually gives the user a degree of control over the box, and a degree of liberation from the EPG, that a platform operator like BT or Sky might want to avoid.
And yet for all this talk about Youview being subsumed by the goliath corporate monsters, the terrestrial broadcasters are to my knowledge still part funding the project?
I’m not claiming to disagree with what any of you are saying. However, the fact remains that this whole scenario is a total mess, and I see no explanation by way of advertising which would help inform an already confused public as to why we need yet another platform.
Quote:And yet for all this talk about Youview being subsumed by the goliath corporate monsters, the terrestrial broadcasters are to my knowledge still part funding the project?
The exact figures weren’t made public following the bust-up, but according to leaks the BBC-ITV-C4-C5-Arqiva annual contributions were reduced from around £5m each to £750,000 following the bustup. Leaving development costs fully funded by BT and TalkTalk.
Quote:I’m not claiming to disagree with what any of you are saying. However, the fact remains that this whole scenario is a total mess, and I see no explanation by way of advertising which would help inform an already confused public as to why we need yet another platform.The industry everywhere is in quite a lot of turmoil, caused largely by the speed of technological shifts, not to mention convergence. I agree it’s confusing but IMO advertising is not the way to offer explanations of a complex and contested situation, if what you want to do is inform rather than sell. There’s plenty of information available on the regulator’s website.
And again – Freeview Play is not “yet another platform”, it’s an extension of Freeview. Like Freetime is an extension of Freesat.
JamesB
And again – Freeview Play is not “yet another platform”, it’s an extension of Freeview. Like Freetime is an extension of Freesat.
I realise this but it begs the question why both Freeview and Freeview Play are being marketed on Freeview’s own web page – (this is demonstrated in the link I provided).
Surely it would be better if the website explained to the visiter that Freeview will be slowly phased out to be replaced by Freeview Play – which I assume is the ultimate aim.
Why are the big terrestrial players still paying anything to Youview? The amounts you mention are still not insignificant.
Faust – 3 minutes ago »
JamesB
And again – Freeview Play is not “yet another platform”, it’s an extension of Freeview. Like Freetime is an extension of Freesat.
I realise this but it begs the question why both Freeview and Freeview Play are being marketed on Freeview’s own web page – (this is demonstrated in the link I provided).
Surely it would be better if the website explained to the visiter that Freeview will be slowly phased out to be replaced by Freeview Play – which I assume is the ultimate aim.
No.
Freeview Play is an extension, not a replacement. A manufacturer can get certification of a device as meeting the requirements for Freeview©, Freeview+©, Freeview HD©, or, now, Freeview Play©. Though in practice few new devices are likely to be marketed with less than Freeview HD certification.
Quote:Why are the big terrestrial players still paying anything to Youview? The amounts you mention are still not insignificant.A bargain, for the broadcasters, as they remain shareholders with (in theory) an equal vote and an equal share of any profits, plus in the case of the BBC, no distribution charges.
Funnily enough BT has been in touch with me offering/trying to persuade me to take BT TV. Not a bad offer actually – I think it is the BT Plus package which gets you a decent box and they only wanted to charge me £5.00 per month for 12 months. Not sure what the true price is though I declined their offer.
Whilst it may have been a good deal I’m not keen to get involved in subscription TV again, though I do have Netflix. Not sure which supplier BT are using now either for that particular subscription.
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