U.K.'s YouView Gets Interim Chairman

9:20 AM PST 3/5/2013 by Stuart Kemp

0
0
0
0
0
Email
Print
Comments

British teleco high flier Charles Dunstone steps in for the role following last week's exit of Alan Sugar from the company.

LONDON – YouView, the free-to-air and Internet-connected television service backed by a lineup of Britain's free-to-air broadcasters, has appointed Charles Dunstone as interim chairman.

Alan Sugar Exits Chairman Post at U.K. TV Service YouView

YouView to Launch as London Olympics Begin

Dunstone steps in following the exit of Alan Sugar, the star of the British version of The Apprentice, after two years in the post.

Sugar parted ways with the company saying his job was done with YouView, the major partnership between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Arqiva and Internet suppliers British Telecom and TalkTalk.

But British media reports carried stories of an expletive-laden boardroom bust-up between Sugar and another of YouView's prominent shareholders, Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond.

Sugar was recruited by Desmond to be YouView chairman in 2011, succeeding Kip Meek.

Dunstone is group chairman of U.K. telecom operator TalkTalk, one of the founder shareholders in YouView since 2009.

YouView said in a statement that Dunstone would be an interim chairman, with the search now beginning for a permanent non-executive chairman.