According to YouView's CEO, the IPTV service will be very successful and highly popular among consumers as soon as it launches next year.

Richard Halton, the chief executive officer of the joint venture, previously known as Project Canvas, said that despite the half-year delay in the launch of the service, it's going to make it big and prove that waiting for it was worth it.

Prior to Mr Halton's positive comments, Starcom MediaVest's Oliver Newton was reported as saying that YouView might lose its popularity and make itself irrelevant due to the lengthy delay.

Mr Halton said:

"The connected TV experience is currently very fragmented, as TV manufacturers pick and choose their content offerings.

"People just want the reassurance that they can catch up with the programmes they love in one place, and YouView will let them without subscription."

He also said that currently there is no other company which is providing such a service and there is not a subscription-free TV platform-developing firm in sight either.

"With the benefit of a simple user experience and comprehensive content, YouView will bring a powerful proposition to millions of homes that are looking for an upgrade to Freeview."

Both TalkTalk and BT, among other companies are involved in the Youview project.