Beeb and co offload failed Kangaroo platform

Telly networks BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 confirmed plans yesterday to ditch an unsuccessful attempt to provide a commercial internet TV service in the UK, by agreeing to sell the platform to Arqiva Ltd. The Competition Commission kiboshed the trio's Kangaroo Project, which was based on the Beeb's iPlayer technology, in …

[Anonymous Coward]

"the networks bankrolling ... too much power"

"the three networks bankrolling it would have too much power in that market."

Whereas Murdochvision owns the rights to the content, the distribution mechanism, the conditional access mechanism, the receivers, the installers, etc.

Surely some mistake?

Oh wait, it's Ofcon. Expect the unexpected. In particular, expect the unbelievably incompetent.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah to the regualtors..

by ensuring Murdoch retains as much control of the media in the UK as possible, I mean by only controlling the entire UK domestic satelite tv broadcast industry, large sections of the US tv industry, most of the written news, his empire would be surely threatened by this.

And you thought they were there to help the consumer!

[Leigh Smith]

Thanks

I'd like to again offer my thanks to the Competition Commission for protecting us consumers from what would have been a useful and worthwhile product. Cheers.

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Anonymous Coward

'Whereas Murdochvision owns the rights to the content, the distribution mechanism, the conditional access mechanism, the receivers, the installers, etc.'

Would it surprise you that Sky was the complainant when Kangaroo was referred to Ofcom?

No, thought not.

[DennisCB]

Foolhardy to say the least

This idea will add to an already oversubscribed market. When the government decided to make TV broadcasting market driven too many companies jumped on the band wagon. That, in turn has led to a reduction in quality and variation because the supply of capital from advertising cannot sustain the bloated market. This will lead to the odd TV company callapse or two

[Grease Monkey]

Ofcon may be a quango...

...but they are still largely controlled by UK.gov and as such are very anti-Beeb (no not Auntie Beeb). Interestingly in this case the Beeb were doing what the government says they want and trying to give commercial broadcasters a leg up and Ofcon stopped them.

There's been so much cocking around that it's now pretty much a dead horse. ITV, 4 and Five all have their own equivalents to iPlayer so their doesn't seem to be any particular need for Kangaroo. So Roop's pressuring of Ofcon and the government has effectively come to nothing.

[amanfromMars 1]

Content is King and Queen and Knave and Ace in Programming the Human Mind.

So TVInterNetworking has become a Power Brokers Pawn in the Great Game, for the Sublime Control of Hearts and Minds. How very Perfect for Big Brother and Sister types, who would realise that they have no Competition in the Field.

Quite why anyone in a highly competitive industry pays any attention to a Competitive Commission that rules that they are likely to be too successful in a competive industry and therefore it is best that they are unsuccessful in competition, is one of those things which has one naturally wondering about the perverse power of money and established vested power interests beaming their own content into the Human Consciousness.

And what a sad day/another sad day for the British BroadBandCasting to be dictated to by the Intellectually Challenged. MeThinks the Capitulation puts the BBC in certain breach of their originating Royal Charter and Agreement and most certainly would have one questioning the Suitability for Future Purpose of the Executive Board/Trustees ....... for when you aint leading, you're following, and when you're following, you're just a puppet on a string and being controlled by a Proxy.

No wonder the Nation is Failing.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a great purchase.

Bargain of the year I'd think.

[Tzael]

Stupid laws kill innovation

Bloody stupid, instead of us ending up with one centralised method of catching up on TV from a variety of channels, Sky has made sure that we have a different application for each broadcaster. I don't want to install iPlayer + 4OD + Sky Anytime + ITV Player + all the others. I simply won't watch catch-up TV on other channels, I'm sticking with iPlayer and that's it.

Oh and I also ended my Sky TV contract a few months when the news first broke of Sky's successful attempt to kill a kangaroo. Where's the evil Murdoch icon?

[Jacqui Smith's DVD Collection!]

Yay! The kangaroo lives!

:D

Perfect solution, let's see how this goes now, I guess that Sky and Virgin will go wining to their friends at Offcom in the next week or so. Let's hope Offcom will tell them to shut the hell up.

If Sky can't compete they are doing something very wrong, if anything their platform needs to be opened up to other billing companies. Their stance that the other networks should not own a platform and channels is as sickening as their other business practices.

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh?

"which was based on the Beeb's iPlayer technology"

Thats just made up, unless your saying its was VOD, but so is YouTube and it was no more based on YouTube then it was on iPlayer.

As to the CC, i SO wonder who bribed them.

[ElNumbre]

Project Phoenix?

This is an excellent and cunning approach by the parties involved.

You can't launch an 'Anti-competitive' VoD platform that you've spent money developing.

You sell it to a 3rd party (one which is mainly interested in the broadcast of content supplied by content producers, rather than producing content themselves).

That 3rd party renames it Project Wallaby then offers it as an ideal VoD platform to broadcasters who then don't have to maintain loads of infrastructure, and pay a rental or 'maintenance' fee to add & serve content to it.

Everyone's happy, other than Murderock, who renames 'Anytime' to 'Pademelon' which everyone continues to ignore, despite constant and excessive marketing to the subscriber base.