Why all broadcasters should buy into Freeview Connected

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/jun/08/freeview-connect-public-service-broadcasting

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Last week’s announcement that the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Arqiva have agreed to invest £100m-plus upgrading Freeview will come to be seen as a milestone for public service broadcasting (PSB) in Britain. At last the free digital TV platform (currently in 11m homes – 20m if you count second sets in Sky and Virgin households) is set to get the internet on-demand functionality it needs to stand any chance of competing with rival commercial platforms.

Freeview Connected, as it is currently titled, will allow people watching digital terrestrial TV, potentially via any set-top box, smart TV or other device, to access the broadcasters’ on-demand services – iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD, Demand 5 – possibly even with a backwards and forwards electronic programme guide (EPG) to help. And that’s important to the legacy PSBs, especially the commercial ones, because their share of viewing in Freeview homes is significantly higher than in Virgin and Sky households.

But, well-intentioned and necessary though it undoubtedly is, this refocusing on Freeview raises awkward questions about why it has taken so long to happen. Until relatively recently the PSBs had been focusing on YouView – the on-demand/Freeview hybrid platform initially developed by the BBC and then taken on with the other broadcasters plus BT and TalkTalk.

YouView was the brainchild of the BBC’s Future Media and Technology department under its then director Erik Huggers. Flushed with the success of iPlayer, they saw YouView as heralding a complete change in TV viewing. Broadcast TV would decline relatively rapidly to be replaced by on-demand services enhanced by new social media and other applications. Former BBC director general Mark Thompson repeatedly claimed it would “revolutionise the living room”.

But trying to develop a system that could do everything this big vision demanded – bearing in mind that the projections of likely future consumer behaviour involved were somewhat speculative – led to what might politely be called complexity. Technical issues arose: some because new things were attempted for which no easy off-the-shelf technology existed, others because the project was perhaps just too ambitious. Throw in competing shareholder priorities and expectations and delay begat delay.

After much boardroom battling and many more tens of millions of pounds, YouView eventually launched in 2012. But by then the Flash technology at its heart was out of date and, critically, not being used by smart TV manufacturers. And the boxes were expensive. As a result it quickly became apparent that the overwhelming majority of YouView users would become so as part of pay-TV deals with BT and TalkTalk. So with expensive boxes and a system that TV manufacturers would be most unlikely ever to install, the BBC’s key strategic requirement that YouView be free at the point of use and universally available was not being met. Nor was YouView likely to meet the needs of the commercial PSBs looking for a Freeview upgrade that would find its way into the majority of UK households.

Hence the decision a year ago to refocus on Freeview with a new much simpler, cut-down internet interface that would allow on-demand access to iPlayer, ITV Player etc alongside regular scheduled TV. Based on technical specifications and standards that would make it much easier for TV and other equipment manufacturers to fit as standard – as most of them already do with standard DTT tuners.

So the broadcasters have, in many analysts’ view, finally arrived at the best solution. But even now there are reasons to wonder whether their individual short-term interests might yet hold them all back. Agreement on the precise terms of shareholder arrangements for Freeview Connect were, I understand, delayed for months by disagreements between the BBC on one hand and Channel 4 and ITV on the other over other matters. There is also the broader question of how to make the Freeview offering as competitive as possible – especially important given its significance in audience terms. But there is ITV’s new drama channel Encore – only available behind Sky’s paywall as are HD versions of ITV2, 3 and 4. Is that a case – some analysts wonder – of seeking short-term cash at the expense of longer term strategic benefit? And it’s not just ITV – More 4 HD, Film 4 HD and E4 HD are similarly not available on Freeview.

Now ITV and Channel 4 might argue that limited capacity previously prevented them putting all their HD channels on Freeview. However, sooner or later, and notwithstanding Freeview Connect, if Freeview is to remain an important player in our TV world – and the PSBs had better hope it does – they really will all have to give it their best shot.