YouView: We don't see PS4 and Xbox One as an immediate threat

YouView's head of product has told TechRadar that she does not view the PS4 or the Xbox One as an 'immediate threat' to the IPTV service, despite the consoles' focus on bringing media to your living room.

The complex British TV market means that both Sony and Microsoft are unlikely to become the dominant box in most living rooms, but their focus on video on demand, partnerships with people like Sky and the huge gaming audience means that YouView is quite possibly the service that could most feel the pinch.

With one of the partners in the YouView project, BT, actively seeking a partnership with Microsoft on the Xbox One, and Sky looking at both Xbox One and PS4 as central to its NOW TV pay-per-view service, YouView believes that its live offerings remain a key selling point.

"One of the best things about YouView is the free digital terrestrial television it brings [via a tuner]," Susie Buckridge said in answer to TechRadar's question.

"That's still incredibly important to the British public and so we do not see the next generation of consoles as an immediate threat."

Live streaming

As well as the digital television via in-box tuners (something neither PS4 and Xbox will bring), YouView is looking ahead to the summer when it will launch live streaming channels via internet.

For BT Vision customers with YouView boxes and TalkTalk this will be a real boon, bringing a range of channels including the much-vaunted BT Sport content.

But for the scores of fans that brought the YouView box outright rather than through one of the internet service providers, the bad news is that the functionality will not be available to them until later in the year, and even then only if the service providers decide to allow their channels to be accessible through other ISPs.