YouView will release the technical details of its API (Application Programming Interface) for the benefit of manufacturers that just want to use a subset of features, YouView CEO Richard Halton told the DTG Summit on Friday.
The release will follow the publication of the final core technical specifications due on April 14. Halton said the plan was to bring together previous documentation into a single specification. “At this point it will cross refer to the D Book and once D Book 7 is published we will reference that. Our aim is to have a publication as thin as possible.”
Explaining the decision to open up the API, Halton said the process was not just about making a consumer device, but also the content and API that goes with it. “The D Book needs to be very precise on the core specification and how people should build it. At YouView we have a particular view on how we should build on that standard, other people may have a different view.”
Previous releases of the YouView specification have only been made available to the DTG. The new version will also be included as part of a revamped Industry Zone on the YouView website. Halton said that by making the specifications widely available, it would be possible for manufacturers to use them in markets outside of the UK.
Following the well publicised delay to the YouView project, Halton said the new schedule of a 2012 launch meant that a working prototype would be released before the end of 2011.
Separately, Lord Sugar is reportedly being lined up to replace Kip Meek as YouView chairman. As Alan Sugar his Amstrad satellite receivers helped launch Sky Television in 1989.
