Lord Alan Sugar's time at YouView is over. The gruff business bod is due to step down from his role as non-executive chairman in the next few weeks, according to a release sent out by the company this afternoon.
The peer formerly known as Surralun has been non-executive chairman since 2011. A new chairman will be announced in due course, so best get your CV in now if you want to stand a chance.
In a statement, Lord Sugar said, "When I joined YouView in 2011, my brief from the shareholders was to use my experience in the electronics industry to get the product to market and into the homes of consumers. Having done that successfully, my job is complete and I will now focus my time and attention into my other businesses.
"I'd like to thank all those who are part of the YouView project, including its suppliers, staff and shareholders and I wish them every success for the future."
The YouView platform launched in the summer, and while the boxes are still a bit pricey, it's an impressive offering. Seeing as there's no monthly subscription to pay, it's still cheaper than either Virgin Media or Sky. Just not as affordable as Freeview.
It also has more features than the likes of Pure's Avalon 300R, which went on sale this week.
YouView boasts on-demand fare from online services such as BBC iPlayer, iTV Player, 4oD, and Demand 5. But it's the user interface that really sets it apart, seamlessly weaving together on-demand offerings with live broadcast TV. Now, if it can just get the price down, that figure of 10,000 people a week signing up could go through the roof.
Have you tried YouView? What do you reckon? And who do you think should take over from Surralun? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
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Comments 5
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anonymous 1 March, 2013 18:41
I do so hope it's cost him a boat load of cash...
anonymous 1 March, 2013 19:58
There's something they don't tell you when you agree to have a Youview box installed. That your internet download speed is slowed down. Mine dropped from 14MEG to 5.6MEG on the day of installation. I've had 6 months of hell to get away from Talktalk Youview becuase of this, and on the day of transferring to another company my speed returned to 14MEG. I have since found out that many more tech savvy customers are noticing this, and that it is due to a setting called DLM (Dynamic Line Management) being turned on at the exchange, as a "play it safe" option to ensure smooth delivery of the program content over your internet. The effects are so bad, that I would urge anyone thinking of getting a Youview box to not bother, as you will have many months (if not years) of very slow internet while you try to convince your (bury their head in the sand) ISP there is a problem. BEWARE!!!!!
anonymous 2 March, 2013 12:05
Yes its about time too, the silly 'ol s.. He turned out rubbish when he had a company and I thought he always spoke rubbish afterwards.
anonymous 26 March, 2013 10:04
What a great post, I am really glad I read your warning about the DLM (Dynamic Line Management) problem otherwise I would have been in the same leaky boat. Just as well I didn't sign up.
Many thanks...
anonymous 3 April, 2013 20:15
Once you get YouView installed, you can instruct your ISP to disable DLM and (in the case of TalkTalk at least) move you off the crippling 15dB SNR profile. TalkTalk have a good support forum where you can ask for this - don't bother with their telephone support, it's a joke. I also believe BT can do this via their forums too.