YouView has announced a re-engineering and redesigning of its entire platform to “respond quickly to the fast-changing needs and tastes of TV viewers, advertisers and partners”.

The transformation is enabled by YouView’s move to the Cloud. Over the coming months a new streamlined and image-led interface, rendered in HTML 5, will rollout across the UK.  Every set top box provided by YouView’s shareholder partners TalkTalk and BT – as well as all original devices bought by retail customers since its launch in 2012 – will be upgraded.

The Next-Gen release will also enable YouView to better understand how viewers use their set top boxes. Insight as to how consumers discover and choose content, combined with traditional viewing data, gives YouView the ability to refine, enhance and personalise the user experience in the near future.

Richard Halton, CEO of YouView, says: “This is just the beginning of a whole new chapter for YouView and for our shareholders, content partners, their advertisers and our viewers. We believe great content deserves the best experience and by the time this rollout is completed, every YouView box will feel like a whole new product, which will continuously improve.

“Our move to the Cloud gives us the opportunity to make large scale changes, add functionality and enhance features in days or weeks, rather than the months or years it can take for other traditional TV platforms to do the same,” Halton continued. “Having worked in close collaboration with our shareholders, particularly with BT and TalkTalk, our Next-Gen platform can rapidly adapt to the changing tastes and TV demands of future viewers, all without the need for a new set top box.”

YouView’s Chief Technology Officer Nick Thexton adds: “YouView’s re-engineering of the entire platform and harnessing the capabilities of Cloud technology paves the way for cross-device innovation – allowing us to rapidly adopt enhanced mobile and app technology – as well as enabling multi-room viewing in the future.”

YouView list of other further benefits courtesy of the upgrade include:

• Less clicking and more watching with a new visual Main Menu from which viewers can launch all services
• A faster playback experience on Live, IP channels and On Demand
• Great content discovery with a visual, simple, seamless and non-intrusive user experience
• Quicker access to Players and Apps with a new more inclusive front page
• A full-screen, faster Guide, allowing viewers to watch, record or catch up on the content they love
• A new visual MiniGuide, allowing viewers to catch up with what was on and see what’s on now, next and in the future
• A personal TV library of recordings with the new MyTV*, formally MyView, where viewers can see more recordings

The enhanced viewer experience comes in addition to the great offering YouView already provides including trick play, seven-day scroll back, Record and Reminders as well as Search and Accessibility features.

As part of the upgrade, BT and TalkTalk TV customers will also get a refreshed look and feel in line with their provider brand. Alongside this, YouView will also be rebranding with a new logo, new website and support site to enhance the overall experience for all customers.

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