The YouView set-top box collective brand is now an established part of the media market within the UK, and competing to grow with new features just like their growing number of competitors. And in an effort to keep up, they have introduced new features from the BBC.

Naturally needing to offer their improvements for the platform considering they are a participating party in the free-to-air smart TV venture, the BBC have put on the newest version of their ‘connected red button services’, alongside an updated edition of the BBC iPlayer, though both of which have arrived comparatively late when compared with other platforms.

Currently limited only to users of BT and Humax-based set-top boxes (with TalkTalk boxes to receive the update “in due course”), YouView customers are now set to be able to access an array of Sport and News apps via their remote’s red button alongside online on-demand streaming coverage of sporting and musical events.

The iPlayer red button updates, meanwhile, see users able to take advantage of a revised 30-day catchup window, exclusive iPlayer programming, and greater content curation abilities than ever before.

The BBC’s release, especially considering the part-funding and that many of the new red button features have been seen on Virgin Media TiVo boxes since ‘late 2012′ (barely months after YouView launched) amongst other smart TV providers since, will be seen as more of a relief than a benefit amongst some users, but now that stage is complete, will the BBC be able to support their own interests and develop on YouView in time with third parties?

Don’t you just love how kids latch onto the latest technology seemingly moments after being born? We all know that children aged 15 and below are generally technologically ‘savvy’, and this is borne out by a new study which reveals that UK children owning a tablet has virtually doubled in the last year, and it comes at the expense of bedroom TV’s, which are being dumped.

The study by UK broadcasting and telecoms regulator Ofcom says that kids are now less likely to own a bedroom TV now than any time during the previous five years, but they are much more likely to have their own tablet PC, possibly due to the influx of cheap tablets such as the Tesco Hudl.

The report says that the number of children owning a tablet is 34% or one in three , and that 62% of children use a tablet at home, even if they don’t own one. Showing that any age can use a tablet, 11% of kids aged 3-4 own a tablet, up from 3% last year.

watching streaming TV using a tablet has grown to 20% now compared to 15% a year ago, a rise of a third. 33% of children watch on-demand TV.

Although the number of children owning a bedroom TV set has dropped a third in five years, they still spend more time watching TV (14.6 hours) each week than doing any other media activity.

The report which comes shortly after another study showing that UK online viewing has reached an all time high, reports that the number of children having a television set in the bedroom has dropped from 66% in 2009 to 46% now, but strangely when they were asked which devices they would miss the most, kids said the TV above mobiles, tablets and even games consoles.

British company Virgin Media, in their continuing efforts to challenge regional pay-TV powerhouse Sky, have revealed an update to their user interface on their TiVo platform that will better incorporate content recommendation and discovery options.

Claimed to be the first system update for close to four years, the new on-screen look of Virgin Media TiVo carries a number of ‘extensive visual enhancements’ (including a change from a red to ‘plum’ colour scheme and ‘refined fonts’), and will seek to improve the user experience whilst retaining similarities to the format they are familiar with.

Part of that familiarity will be in the service’s electronic programme guide (EPG) which retains its previous ‘grid’ format, with the added ability of allowing viewers to go backwards in the schedules to view now on-demand content.

Following in the footsteps of Sky, Virgin Media will also be introducing ‘predictive search’ functions to be a part of their newly-emphasised ‘content discovery’ direction, which also includes show recommendations based on viewing habits complete with optional background ‘automatic downloads’, and groupings for downloaded content such as TV/Radio, Kids, and Movies, amognst others.

Hardware-wise, the update roll-out is designed to ensure that TiVo runs faster and with higher-resolution imagery than ever before, combined with an upgrade to HTML5-based apps as opposed to flash, with more apps becoming available through a store carriage agreement with Opera.

Also updating their mobile ‘TV Anywhere’ platform in line with the TV improvements starting between now and the end of the year (with 28 October cited as the main ‘launch date’ for the most boxes in the UK), will .

While it is naturally easier to perform such tasks on a completely internet-connected service than on a preset box with sporadic updates, UK satellite broadcasters Sky have now made the breakthrough of including a ‘recommendations engine‘ within their electronic programme guide (EPG).

Based on the approaches seen on Netflix and YouTube, the service will look to dig into their database of programming across all channels to provide individual Sky boxes with the most relevant suggestions based on viewing history and current interest.

Aiming to provide customers with more from their Sky satellite subscriptions, the update will utilise the Sky+ Planner’s recordings past, present, and future as reference points presumably as opposed to live TV, although shows in the latter category will naturally be recommended with their airdates alongside on-demand listings.

Amongst other updates, Sky are also implementing a newly-created ‘smart series link’ that remembers to record not only an entire upcoming season of a present TV show with new episodes, but also of any future seasons afterwards, as they make the most of their technology to offer years-long memory in their products.

On more minor incorporations, Sky have also added a ‘sports tile’ on the homepage of their EPG, DVD cover art for movies and eligible content in their On Demand sections, and an ‘HDMI One Touch’ option enabling a user to swich both a TV set and a Sky+HD box on from standby with one touch of a Sky remote power button, so long as the devices have compatiability and an HDMI connection.

Released to their public as of yesterday (21 August), will Sky’s breakthrough set an industry standard in the UK? For TV services that is, the internet obviously got their first…

Latest TV searches:

June was a good month for the BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service, as usage increased by 9% from the previous year. The BBC say that the impressive growth was helped by live sports and BBC Three content.

Both the World Cup finals in Brazil, and content that included the David Beckham documentary saw over 260 million requests for content recorded during the month of June 2013.

The figures were also boosted by the decision to make BBC Three an online only channel as part of cost cutting measures.

The soccer match featuring Brazil vs Chile had over a million streaming requests, and the ex-soccer player David Beckham documentary called The Unknown had 1.2 million requests. Also the one off feature on BBC Three called, Murdered By My Boyfriend, had almost two million requests,

Other sports events that pushed up viewer numbers included the Wimbledon Tennis finals, and the cricket test series featuring England and Sri Lanka.

The figures compare to the iPlayer launch month in January 2009 when it received 62 million viewing requests, and the high of 320 million requests it enjoyed in March 2014.

The BBC also revealed that the average iPlayer viewer is under 55 years old and evenly split between males and females. Viewing times for the on-demand service are similar to linear TV viewing, but more viewing is recorded during the day and later at night.