16/02/2011

Last month, BBC director general Mark Thompson said the arrival of YouView would "herald an intense battle for the living room". This month, though, it became clear that viewers would have to wait for this upgrade to Freeview for up to a year longer than expected and more than two years longer than originally hoped. What are the implications for those viewers who want this next generation of free TV over the internet? Analyst Matthew Horsman, of Mediatique, offers an explanation for the delay and Steve Hewlett asks YouView's chief executive Richard Halton to give a date when it will finally arrive.This week saw the launch of OK!TV on TV Channel 5. Is it, as one reviewer said in the Guardian, neither "ok nor TV" or, according to another in the Express, a "resounding hit"? And how are the chances of OK!TV's success affected by the fact that OK!, Channel 5 and the Express are all owned by Richard Desmond's Northern and Shell, which may also be on the point of buying Big Brother? David Butcher of the Radio Times and Amanda Andrews of the Telegraph discuss the fortunes of 5. And it has been three weeks since Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, announced he would give Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp more time to address his concerns over "potential threats to media plurality" if NewsCorp buys the remaining 61% of BSkyB. If those concerns are not addressed, he said he would refer the bid to the Competition Commission. David Elstein, formerly of BSkyB and Chris Goodall, formerly of the Competition Commission, give their views on what's going on behind the scenes and what we can expect in the next few weeks.

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