You’re hired!
What once looked like a revolution in UK terrestrial broadcasting is increasingly starting to resemble a typical UK public-sector car crash, as BBC-led YouView loses yet another senior exec.
This time the casualty is the exotically-named Kip Meek, who joined YouView as non-executive chairman in the middle of last year, but has already lost interest. Meek is a telco veteran, whose past encompasses Ofcom and Phorm. His main role seems to have been to overcome antitrust objections from Virgin and Sky, but now YouView needs someone that knows how to deliver actual products.
Enter Lord Alan Michael Sugar to head up the board of YouView, alongside his lordly duties and, of course, business pantomime The Apprentice. The thinking seems to be that Sugar's set-top box expertise is what YouView needs to get back on track, which recently announced a further delay of six months in rolling out the Internet TV platform.
"It has been apparent for some time that the YouView board would benefit from additional expertise in consumer marketing and technology delivery. Lord Sugar clearly supplies this," said the suddenly superfluous Meek. "As the venture progresses towards launch, the change in chairman makes sense. I wish Lord Sugar well."
You have to wonder, if it makes so much sense to replace Meek with someone who knows about delivering technology now, why it didn't eight months ago. Still, Charles Dunstone, TalkTalk chairman and YouView shareholder spokesman, seems happy with the move.
"Lord Sugar's experience in delivering set top box technology to the consumer is unrivalled and we are delighted that he will be with us as we introduce a new, enhanced television experience to homes across the UK," said Dunstone. "As we move from the development to the delivery stage I can't think of anyone better placed to help bring YouView to market than Lord Sugar."
Sugar's experience and previous achievements in the tech industry are beyond question, but they were all a bit of a while ago. Amstrad was worth over £1.2 billion during its heyday in the 80s, but when Sugar sold it to Sky in 2007 he got a tenth of that and it was mainly focused on set-top boxes. YouView will be hoping the man who wrote-off the iPod can rediscover some of his former lustre, and not rely too heavily on pointing and shouting to move things along.
