YouView shareholder funding up 30%
January 2, 2014
YouView gathered more than £40 million (€47m) in funds from its shareholders in the last financial year, with staff costs increasing by almost 50 per cent as the Internet-based TV service finally launched.
YouView called on £42.1 million on funds from its backers – the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, Arqiva and TalkTalk – in the year to the end of March.
This represents an increase of almost 30 per cent on the £32.6 million Youview’s shareholders spent the previous year, as time and resources were thrust into getting the much-delayed TV service to launch last July.
YouView’s annual financial filing reveals the extent of the upscaling of the business, which almost doubled staff numbers from 29 to 55 between the end of March 2012 and the end of March this year.
YouView said “sales have gone well and are as expected for the period from launch to the end of the financial year”.
However, it is understood that only a little over 30,000 YouView set-top boxes have been sold directly to consumers through retail outlets, a price point of almost £250 considered a barrier compared to cheaper rivals. Nearly all of the well over 500,000 households that have a YouView set-top box have received them either for free, or heavily subsidised, through offers from BT TV and TalkTalk.