YouView Finally Surfaces on UK Shores, It May Be Too Late

The mythical YouView has become reality. The British internet TV service is live now and Brits can finally start enjoying the benefits of having the ability to watch TV content online, on-demand, pause and rewind live TV and so on.

It's been a long road to get here. The service was initially scheduled to go live in 2010, but it wasn't to be. YouView may sound like a cheap Chinese YouTube clone, but that's not really it.

Think of it as Google TV and BBC iPlayer all rolled into one. In fact, the BBC is one of the backers of the program along with ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and several cable/broadband providers.

The project has quite a few more launch partners, but critics worry that it's all too late, the delays having killed off its chances. The price of the first devices, £299, $469, €372 isn't helping either.