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YouView reportedly set to grow staff headcount by 50% following investment

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By Stephen Lepitak, -

May 12, 2014 | 2 min read

YouView is reportedly set to increase its headcount by half as it aims to take on the might of Sky.

According to The Guardian, the online service, backed by BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Five, BT, TalkTalk and Arquiva, is to expand to as many as 170 members of staff following a five-year deal with its shareholders, which could see an extra injection of £100m made.

The deal will see each shareholder agree to pay a minimum of £1m a year to the scheme, however more investment is expected from the likes of BT and TalkTalk who wish to drive forward their subscription offerings, despite YouView being free-to-view.

Richard Halton, CEO of YouView, explained that the shareholders were "very ambitious."

He added: "What we wanted to be able to do is move as fast as the fastest player will allow. The really important bit is that we can't create seven versions of YouView, so if people want to invest more money, great, but fundamentally there is one product and all the shareholders benefit."

Meanwhile, it has been reported that Virgin Media has agreed a content deal with Skyto broadcast Sky Sports 3 and 4 as well as Sky Sports News and Sky News in its efforts to counter the rise of BT's sport coverage.

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