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Simon Duffy takes YouView Chair

October 17, 2013

Businessman Simon Duffy has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman of UK open IPTV platform YouView, taking over from interim Chairman Sir Charles Dunstone.

Duffy is an experienced non Executive Director and Chairman and currently serves as non-executive Chairman of bwin.party digital entertainment plc (Gibraltar) and mBlox Inc. (USA) and is also a non-executive Director of Oger Telecom Limited (Dubai) and Modern Times Group AB (Sweden). Prior to his current Non Executive portfolio career, Simon was Executive Chairman of Tradus plc, Executive Vice Chairman of ntl:Telewest Inc. (now Virgin Media Group), CFO of Orange SA and Group Finance Director and Deputy Chairman of EMI.

Dunstone said that Duffy brought vast experience of leading the boards of major organisations and in-depth knowledge and experience of the sector.

Duffy said he was excited to be part of YouView as it continued its journey beyond launch and a successful first year. “YouView will play a crucial role in the future of Television and the Internet in the UK and I look forward to working with the Board and Executive team to achieve this vision,” he added.

Duffy will begin his handover from Dunstone immediately.

Dunstone took over the interim Chair in March 2013 following the resignation of Lord Alan Sugar.

As Chairman of TalkTalk Group, Sir Charles has been involved with YouView since TalkTalk became a shareholder in 2009. Sugar’s resignation March 1st reportedly led to a violent confrontation with Richard Desmond, owner of Channel 5, a fellow shareholder along with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BT and Arqiva.

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