When he’s not promoting Viglen or baiting Piers Morgan on his Twitter feed, Lord ‘Suralan’ Sugar is also the chairman of long-gestating TV-over-broadband venture YouView.
The salt-of-the-Earth entrepeneur and proper geezer has wrangled YouView partners the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, TalkTalk, BT and Arqiva from two years of delays to a public trial this summer.
YouView opened the trial to public registration last week, but today the Apprentice-belittling Lord has been urging his two million Twitter to followers to join up.
In particular, he’s targeting the Scots with this tweet: “People of Scotland: I want more of you to register for trials of YouView.”
Other tweets suggest he might be taking his personal role in the new technology a little too far, even describing it as ‘my new TV revolution’.
The YouView public beta trial is looking for around 350 homes to take part, reflecting the expected demographic who might be interested in the offer of ‘Freeview HD with a bit extra’.
The proposition is simple enough: a Freeview HD recorder which you connect to your broadband to get both free catch-up TV services like BBC iPlayer, and pay-TV service which could include Netflix, Lovefilm, Blinkbox or even Sky’s NOW TV.
You’ll need to be over-16, with a TV aerial, TV Licence, and an internet connection, and willing to take part in regular feedback via phone and email.
But the most important thing is your ability to keep a secret: any trial members who post reports, opinions, pictures of video of the service and kit will be thrown out.
Or, as Lord Sugar of Amstrad would say: “You’re fired!”
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