YouView: Project Canvas renamed

written by: Gianluigi Cuccureddu

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Published on Sunday, 19 September 2010 20:08

Project Canvas is being renamed as YouView.

According to TechRadar, the reasoning behind the new name is fairly simple:

It seems to be a portmanteau of YouTube and Freeview, with the Financial Times noting that the YouView name has been registered with the Intellectual Property Office.

YouView should make it easier for viewers to catch up with programmes from the BBC iPlayer, ITV.com and 4OD on their TV set, rather than on a laptop, desktop, or smartphone.

BBC reports on the set-top-box and pricing:

Users will access it via a set-top box, which will go on sale next year. 
The set-top boxes will be sold either on a stand-alone basis, or as part of a package provided by internet service providers.

However, both the price and set-top box manufacturer has yet to be decided.
A spokesperson for YouView told BBC News that the door was open for firms to bid for the set-top box contract.

With regard to the app store and broadcasters, the Financial Times reports:

[...]Instead, extra content and services will be available through an app store, which Mr Halton likes - naturally - to compare to Apple’s iPhone marketplace. Unlike that app store, however, YouView will have no rights to veto apps before they appear on its platform, taking reactive measures only in the event of obscenity or technological foul-up.

“On Freeview, a lot of [smaller TV channels] wouldn’t get any access,” he says. “It’s not even a question of prominence - there are only so many broadcast slots in the UK and they retail at £10m a year. Canvas lowers the barriers to entry radically.  We are building a system that really understands originality.”

Regional broadcasters - and local advertisers - will be interested to know that YouView will detect its location from its IP address, or even a postcode, if the viewer enters it. “All of a sudden you have a much more regional perspective.”

The lack of browser, he adds, is simply to ensure the service looks good on the TV set, and also helps with security.

The detection of the IP address or even postcode is interesting for location based advertising, which will increase both relevancy and revenue for both parties. For users it will decrease the irrelevancy of advertisements and could help tCommerce in terms of recognition and demand.