June 25, 2018– YouView, the award-winning hybrid digital television platform, announced today that Richard Halton will stand down as CEO at the end of 2018. Having led YouView from launch to being in three million homes, Richard has decided this is the right moment to pursue new leadership opportunities.
Simon Duffy, Chairman of YouView said “YouView is now a world class technology platform which blends the best of the UK’s major broadcasters and communication companies with digital OTT services. Richard has been a major contributor to this success, marshalling a unique partnership between YouView’s seven shareholders – BT, TalkTalk, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Arqiva. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Halton said “It has been a fantastic ten years at the helm of an extraordinary business – one that now shapes the way three million homes find and watch television. To have led YouView through such an exciting time in the TV industry has been a privilege and I would like to thank my team as well as our shareholders and partners for their unerring support, commitment and energy. After a decade I feel it is time to move on and explore new opportunities, knowing that I leave YouView well set for the future.”
The shareholders – BT, TalkTalk, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Arqiva – would like to thank Richard for his very significant contribution to YouView’s growth. All seven remain fully committed to YouView and the search for a successor has already commenced, with a view to achieving a handover period with Richard.
Halton was Controller of Business Strategy at the BBC where he led development of Project Canvas and became CEO of the newly formed company in September 2010.
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About YouView
YouView launched in summer 2012, brought BT Sport over IP in 2013, an upgrade to 4k and the launch of Netflix in 2014, partnered with Sony to offer the UI for its TVs in 2015 and brought the first UHD device to the UK. YouView launched a major upgrade to its underlying platform in 2017 with an award winning UI in the UK with a powerful cloud back office providing new data and insights into how consumers watch and find TV. It recently announced the launch of Amazon Prime with BT and the arrival of Sky Atlantic in early 2019.
YouView continues to innovate and is working with the BBC to trial a UHD version of BBC iPlayer. YouView has won a number of major industry awards including Advanced TV Innovation of the Year at the 2017 Content Innovation Awards and Best Platform at the annual T3 Awards and most recently winner of the National Technology Awards for TV, Film and Broadcasting Technology of the Year.
