Project Kangaroo Mk II
p2pnet news view Advertising | TV:- Project Kangaroo will be a, “video on demand platform offering content from BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), ITV.com and Channel 4’s 4oD,” says the Wikipedia, going on it was expected to launch this year, although it, “may be delayed until 2009″.
And delayed it was.
“Any venture that asks the UK’s three biggest broadcasters to work together has pretty hefty political hurdles to overcome from the start,” says Broadcastnow, pointing out once the UK Competition Commmission waded in, “interested parties braced themselves for a bumpy ride” the sticking point being they’re venturing into a, “still nascent VoD market. The BBC’s push on iPlayer only began in earnest last Christmas.”
But, “Having had their plan to combine their broadband TV services kyboshed by the commission, the BBC and ITV today said they plan to do it anyway,” says The Register, “but this time to open up the infrastructure to all comers”.
The two, together with BT, say they want to foster a “common industry approach” that’s “open for all public service broadcasters, device developers and other ISPs,” says the story, noting it’ll be founded on a, “standards based open environment”.
‘Same P2P basis as the iPlayer’
The service would, “pool TV content from the major UK broadcasters,” said The Guardian back in June.
The BBC was working with ITV and Channel 4 and would, ” invite other players later,” said the story. To begin with, Kangaroo would be online and, ” built on the same P2P basis as the iPlayer,” but could later be, ” extended as a digital TV service”.
But, “Rivals fear that by coming together, the Kangaroo players will reduce competition for supply and potentially secure bulk advertising deals, both of which could distort the market,” says Broadcastnow.
A more “pressing concern,” they argue, “is online advertising, where the commission has given Kangaroo a free pass,” according to this story, which adds:
“Of all UK web video, Kangaroo’s content is likely to be the easiest to monetise, so it should mop up most premium advertisers. By 2012, Cryan and Amel argue free-to-view ad-funded video will make up more than 95% of all content viewed on the web.”
No timetable
Says The Register:
“How truly open it will be remains to be seen. Right now, DRM technology is employed by the BBC and others to ensure programmes are not archived – why buy DVD when you can get the show off iPlayer for free? – and not viewed by folk outside the UK to whom British broadcasters may not have a licence to send content to.
“If the project is too open, how all that works will be exposed, potentially allowing the limitations to be side-stepped.
“While the content will be provided free of charge, how will ancillary revenue — from website ads, say — be collected from third-party sites presenting the content and then divided up among the content sources? The commercial side needs to be worked out in as much detail as the technology does.
“It’s no surprise, then, that the partners announced no timetable for the development of the service.”
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Broadcastnow – Which way will Kangaroo jump?, December 11, 2008
The Register – BBC, ITV propose ‘open’ TV-over-net platform, December 11, 2008
The Guardian – Project Kangaroo: logical for web TV consolidation?, June 14, 2008
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