Digital UK, the company behind TV platforms Freeview and Freesat, has relaunched with a new name: Everyone TV.
Owned by the UK’s leading public service broadcasters, the change in name reflects a revised mandate for the organisation: “to lead the evolution of free, universal, high-quality television,” it said.
Freeview and Freesat, which together offer 100 per cent coverage of the nation and serve 18 million British homes, will retain their consumer brand identities. But the mission of Everyone TV is to “champion free TV for all on whatever platform they choose”.
To reflect the changes, there will be a new top-tier of Directors at Everyone TV under CEO, Jonathan Thompson. The team now consists of: Chief Commercial Officer, Deep Halder, formerly Head of TV Retail and Content Services at Samsung UK; Chief Technology Officer,
Orf Warr, formerly CTO of Channel 4; Chief Product Officer (job share): Sarah Milton, formerly Digital UK COO, and Carl Pfeiffer, formerly Head of Distribution and Platform Partnerships, Channel 4.
Mr Thompson said one of the tasks of Everyone TV is defusing a threat to universality that could “catch the industry by surprise”…
“From the Queen’s funeral to the victorious England women’s football team, shared moments are currently brought into every British home simultaneously by our world-leading television industry. But that could be lost in a fragmented future world of TV viewing. We at Everyone TV will lead the evolution of free television services in the UK so that universality – in all senses of the word – remains a fundamental principle.”
Digital UK’s Chair of over 10 years, Caroline Thomson, added: “Digital UK has come a long way since it delivered digital switchover over a decade ago. The new name very much reflects the organisation’s changed role in managing all the UK’s free TV services to the benefit of viewers and wider society. I’m confident it can continue to serve UK audiences and the wider broadcasting ecosystem.”
Digital UK was founded in 2005 by the broadcasters and transmission companies of Britain with the purpose of masterminding the switchover from analogue to today’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).
