The digital television platform will be accessed by a set-top box which will be able to access live digital terrestrial television as well as the past seven days of programming. It will also feature other on-demand programmes.
The project is a collaboration between broadcasters the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Five, telecoms firms BT and TalkTalk, and mast and satellite company Arqiva.
The scheme originally had a much larger plan called Project Kangaroo which would have offered a service based on a more integrated approach to the broadcasters' content. The Competition Commission blocked that plan as a threat to the wholesale market for TV content.
Project Canvas was approved by the Office of Fair Trading and the BBC Trust earlier this year and will be known as YouView from now on, under the stewardship of just-appointed chief executive Richard Halton, till-now a BBC executive.
