BBC 'biggest barrier' to BT's £60m takeover of YouView

BT is in talks to take sole control of the YouView television platform once seen as a successor to Freeview, reports the Daily Telegraph – but it needs to win over the BBC first.

According to the paper, the telecoms giant is seeking to buy out fellow shareholders, which alongside Auntie include TalkTalk, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Arqiva, the private company that owns the UK's television masts.

Most are said to be "keen to sell", with the Beeb seen as the "biggest barrier". Bosses at the publicly-funded broadcaster are said to be fearful of criticism that licence fee revenue was used to subsidise what will effectively become a pay-TV service.

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The Telegraph suggests the knotty issue could come down to price: the BBC has pumped "tens of millions" into the project and may want to recoup its investment.

Originally BT had mooted it could buy out the shares it does not own for around £20m, but now "valuations in the region of £60m" are under discussion.

The BBC is also said to be concerned that some of the "public service" aspects of the organisation, such as a zoom function on the menu system to assist partially-sighted viewers, are retained.

Having started life as a plan to pool on-demand content from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 under the name Project Canvas, YouView has had a chequered past. It was at one time seen as a replacement for Freeview but has effectively become a service for BT and TalkTalk subscribers.

TalkTalk would like to strike a deal to keep the service available to its customers, without the burden of funding "development of the technology". The company is instead setting its sights on app-based television services and last year acquired Blinkbox from Tesco.

All parties declined to comment.