YouView set to appoint Clemmow Hornby Inge

YouView, the BBC-backed venture to bring video-on-demand to Freeview and Freesat, is understood to be poised to appoint ad agency Clemmow Hornby Inge to handle its £48.4m advertising account. The venture, which has partners including BT, Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5, aims to launch in the first half of next year. YouView will have a marketing budget of almost £50m for its first four years, according to figures submitted to the BBC Trust . CHI already handles the advertising account for Charles Dunstone's TalkTalk, a partner in YouView. It is not clear which agency has won the media planning and buying account for YouView. Agency appointments are being handled by YouView's marketing director, Tim Hunt. YouView declined to comment. The VoD operator's first target market will be the 7m Freeview households that have the required broadband access needed to use the on-demand services. Earlier this week Ofcom cleared the venture of requiring a investigation on competition grounds , dismissing objections from companies including Virgin Media and BSkyB. CHI's appointment is understood to be subject to contract negotiations and is not yet finalised. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".