YouView, the open IPTV platform supported by a consortium of the UK’s public service broadcasters, ISPs and broadcast infrastructure provider Arqiva, is to launch officially on July 4.

A launch event is to be hosted by entrepreneur Lord Sugar, who chairs the YouView board and YouView’s CEO Richard Halton.

An initial trial of some 350 homes was confirmed by YouView’s board late May following an initial test of some 100 employees.

A YouView-compliant set-top box has been included in the Summer 2012 Technology brochure from UK High Street retailer John Lewis. Listed in the catalogue as “Coming Soon”, the Humax-produced device is priced at £299.95 (€371), promising prospective purchasers their “favourite digital TV, video-on-demand and Internet catch-up services from BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and others,” simply by plugging into their TV and broadband connection.

Humax – named in 2010 as a set-top box supplier alongside Cisco and Technicolor – has confirmed that it will demonstrate its boxes at the event.

The platform’s delayed launch had given rise to much criticism, with suggestions that it had “missed the boat” and had been superseded by other connected TV and OTT services.

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, IPTV, OTT, Telco