The company that named itself after a Yorkshire epithet has launched a television service in the UK because, apparently, "Britain needs a whole new way of watching television, and EE is the firm that will drag the TV industry kicking and screaming into the mobile era." and we need "a user interface that stands out." (These are, apparently, company quotes from the BBC Tech correspondent).
I've been trying to use the EE website to upgrade my phone recently and, unbelievably, it's even worse than that of its predecessor, Orange. Add to that the fact that I can't get data coverage in sparsely populated areas of the world such as Camden Town, you wonder what the heck these guys are doing when they have no idea how to run a decent mobile telephone service.
The service seems little more than a local multicast of Freeview over WiFi and has not a single feature that can rival many free and paid for services, apps and boxes out there. Add to this the fact that BT will be running the infrastructure to deliver the service, it seems a bit pointless, even if it is 'free'.
However, it does lay down the gauntlet to the likes of Vodafone and O2 who have TV services in other countries but not in the UK, and it increases competition (at least in those parts of the country that have decent broadband).
EE should stick to sorting out its branding and its core service, if you ask me. But it shows how really, really difficult reinventing the TV industry is.