Its ironic that the day that news broke that Orange has decided not to acquire the technology that was developed for Project Kangaroo, Hulu announced it was coming to the UK in September.
Kangaroo was the UK video on demand venture service proposed jointly by the UK broadcasters BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, to position themselves in a global market and fully online. The service and some may say naively squashed by the government when it decided it wasn’t part of their Digital Britain plans and raised competition concerns. It emerged that Orange was considering making a purchase of Kangaroo's underlying IPTV technology for its Orange TV services in France and elsewhere in Europe, but now that is no more.
Hulu, the free online video-on-demand service backed by News Corp, NBC Universal and Disney, doesn’t face the same governmental controls and is set to launch in Britain in September 2009, with 3,000 hours of American content and ITV and Channel 4 as content partners. Hulu is also understood to be in talks with the BBC.
So rather than have a strong UK service we now all fall in with a very strong US one. It beggars belief what the legacy of this UK government will finally be but good decision making will not be high on many peoples lists.
It is rumoured that negotiations have paused due to Hulu wishing to retain control over Channel 4’s and ITV’s advertising sales on the platform. Who will give in and what ad model will prevail is unclear but it’s a shame that a UK solution was scuppered in the first place.
Showing posts with label Channel 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Channel 4. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
So Is The UK Going Digital Selectively?
The anti BBC people will be no doubt rubbing their hands at the news that the Kangaroo joint project between BBC, ITV and Channel 4 is to be blocked by the Competition Commission. The service would have established an on demand video service to sell current shows from C4 and ITV and archived BBC shows. The reason given was that the posed service posed "too much of a threat to competition".
One week after the government had tabled a digital Britain plan another arm of the establishment has gone the other way and the losers will be the public. The logic was that the project would inhibit other on demand services developing a service. The reality is that the services are all under considerable pressure with ITV haemorrhaging ad revenues, Channel 4 and 5 close to a survival marriage and the knives poised as always over the BBC.
These companies may commission productions but today the majority of content is independent and it’s the delivery where the consolidation makes most sense. In a global market with strong international dominant branded players a UK consolidation makes more sense than a fragmented one that is potentially unable to compete on the global stage.
The BBC's iPlayer followed the lead of Channel 4and has proved a high success story and proof of the demand for a free service and ITV now also offers a similar service. Kangaroo would have enabled the BBC to offer its huge archive of material and importantly build a global brand enabling those outside the UK to use the service on a pay to view basis. It could have removed the current 7 day window. This could have been rolled out country by country on the back of BBC.com. As it is the BBC may have to live within their branded section of iTunes, further building Apple’s brand rather than a UK one.
The combined entity would have consolidated investment, user experience and enabled money to be funnelled into what really matters content and rights.
At a time when the UK government cries global with one breath it’s a shame their narrow minds stifle global opportunities with the other.
One week after the government had tabled a digital Britain plan another arm of the establishment has gone the other way and the losers will be the public. The logic was that the project would inhibit other on demand services developing a service. The reality is that the services are all under considerable pressure with ITV haemorrhaging ad revenues, Channel 4 and 5 close to a survival marriage and the knives poised as always over the BBC.
These companies may commission productions but today the majority of content is independent and it’s the delivery where the consolidation makes most sense. In a global market with strong international dominant branded players a UK consolidation makes more sense than a fragmented one that is potentially unable to compete on the global stage.
The BBC's iPlayer followed the lead of Channel 4and has proved a high success story and proof of the demand for a free service and ITV now also offers a similar service. Kangaroo would have enabled the BBC to offer its huge archive of material and importantly build a global brand enabling those outside the UK to use the service on a pay to view basis. It could have removed the current 7 day window. This could have been rolled out country by country on the back of BBC.com. As it is the BBC may have to live within their branded section of iTunes, further building Apple’s brand rather than a UK one.
The combined entity would have consolidated investment, user experience and enabled money to be funnelled into what really matters content and rights.
At a time when the UK government cries global with one breath it’s a shame their narrow minds stifle global opportunities with the other.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
TV ON Demand
The major UK broadcasters, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are to are join forces to launch a joint on-demand service in 2008. The service will compete with new services such as Joost and will offer viewers access to over thousands of hours of current shows and archive material. The Internet based service may have several options streaming, download, rental and purchase and even possible expansion for distribution to other platforms. The broadcasters already have online platforms, 4OD, ITV.com and the BBC's iPlayer.
It is clear that TV is changing and watch what you want when you want is becoming the new paridim and real time viewing less demanding. This could offer the potential for others to compete for those ‘entertainment’ hours or alternatively present the viewer with content overload.
It is clear that TV is changing and watch what you want when you want is becoming the new paridim and real time viewing less demanding. This could offer the potential for others to compete for those ‘entertainment’ hours or alternatively present the viewer with content overload.
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