Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2013/03/06/dunstone_youview_chair/

TalkTalk bigwig parks knighted-rear in cursed YouView chair

Temporary move for Sir Charles after Lord Sugar legs it

By Andrew Orlowski

Posted in Legal, 6th March 2013 13:46 GMT

Retail genius Sir Charles Dunstone will chair the YouView consortium until a permanent appointment can be made. Sir Charlie co-founded The Carphone Warehouse and is chairman of budget ISP TalkTalk.

TalkTalk has been a YouView member since 2009. The ISP offers a free YouView box and claims to be adding 10,000 punters a week - despite slipping to fourth-most-popular UK internet provider. YouView set-top boxes combine a digital video recorder with Freeview received over the air and internet-delivered catch-up services from BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5.

YouView's previous chairman Lord Alan Sugar left the consortium on Friday.

"YouView will now begin a search for a permanent non-executive chairman," the consortium announced in a terse 43-word statement.

One rare misstep by Carphone was its partnership with Best Buy on both sides of the Pond. Sir Charles had envisaged 200 big-box out-of-town stores in the UK that would give Dixons a run for its money. But just 11 were opened before the plug was pulled.

But perhaps it just got out in time: Comet smashed into the ground just before Christmas. And Carphone Warehouse pocketed $1.3bn (£838m at the time) after Best Buy bought out their joint US mobile retail venture. ®