blinkx sets sights on YouView
December 2, 2010
Video search-engine operator blinkx is hoping it will be available on UK IPTV platform YouView when it launches in 2011, and has initiated discussions to that end. “We know the YouView team very well and we are involved in the various processes they currently have running with the tech teams,” blinkx founder and chief executive Suranga Chandratillake told the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York. “We certainly want to be on that platform in some way, in what way depends on what the platform ends up looking like,” he told delegates via videolink.
According to Chandratillake, YouView had a better chance of success than other online TV services such as Google and Microsoft because its backers were mostly broadcasters and understood TV better. “It feels like a better stab than almost anyone else has had so far,” he said.
Chandratillake revealed that blinkx was also likely to charge for content in the future, with the most likely platforms being TV and mobile, with consumers already used to paying for content on those platforms. He said that blinkx was not currently selling content on the Web because advertising-supported models dominated, but added that agreements were in place “should we decide to charge for content on these other platforms in the future”.