Freeview's managing director has insisted that YouView 'has a long way to come' before it is something that is readily adopted by the mainstream.
Speaking at a journalist round-table with TechRadar in attendance, Howling was asked about the connected YouView service, which has been billed (rather disingenuously) as the next generation of Freeview.
Howling spoke at length about the dominance of traditional linear television compared to the catch up services that are now proliferating, and suggested that much of the mainstream is not yet ready to embrace services over an internet connection.
Appetite for more
"If you think of all the homes in the country, some and more advances and have a greater appetite for things like connected TV, YouView or thorugh an iPad. It's a large group but it's still a minority who are interested.
"But for the mass mainstream of viewers, I think [YouView] has a long way to come."
Howling is not discounting adding IP services to Freeview at some point, although it was suggested that this idea is firmly parker for the time being.
"We're really interested in allowing consumer to get into the programmes that they love faster. And [through the internet ] is a really good way of doing that
"But nonetheless its back to the point I was making about linear television and its extraordinary resilience and longevity.
"When you look at how most people in this country are watching, despite the fact that all those catchup services are starting to become available, actually most are watching live and thorough the broadcast signal to their own televisions."
