Sky criticises the BBC for Canvas, again
Still to grok this properly, but for those coming here via search in particular:
- The FT this morning ran an article covering Sky’s criticisms of the BBC’s involvement in Project Canvas. The article is here. It’s based on Sky’s submission to the second and latest BBC Trust consultation on Canvas. (Sky incidentally did the same thing with their response to the initial consultation - released it to the media & then published on their own site. Their full response hasn’t been published yet, but it will likely be here on their news page when it is.)
- Richard Halton, project director of Canvas, has just published a response here on the BBC Internet blog, on behalf of all the Canvas partners (so, BBC, ITV, BT, FIVE).
Update - 18.29: Here is Sky’s full submission to the BBC Trust’s second consultation - PDF file here.
Canvas & related news roundup - 25 Aug
In Project Canvas news roundup:
- Digital Spy have a Q&A with BBC’s director of IPTV Richard Halton here. The resulting article is here (in which Halton restates the 2010 launch aim).
- We mentioned it on Twitter when it happened, but early last week, Sky hit out again at the BBC Trust over its handling of the Project Canvas consultation - FT article here. Sky’s two main issues: that the Trust has not submitted Canvas to a full public value test, and that the 5 weeks between the release of the further detailed info and the close of the consultation period (Sep 1) was vastly insufficient.
In VOD & IPTV-related news for the last few weeks:
- Channel 4 is to run a week of 3D programmes in autumn. 3D glasses will be available from Sainsbury’s. The programmes include unspecified movies, and footage of the Queen’s coronation.
- Speculation continues around a UK launch for Hulu: The Tele yesterday on its site ran two different articles: one claiming ITV is signing up imminently including exclusive rights on a few of its programmes; the second saying no content partners have been signed (and also that Channel 4 is reportedly going to start showing full length episodes on YouTube); both saying a 2010 launch is the earliest possible. PaidContent points out that no one at Hulu itself (or any of the potential content providers) has ever come out and given timing objectives around the UK launch.
- Blinkbox adds BBC Worldwide content. Some shows will be free/ad-supported while others will be paid (Broadband TV news article).
- ITV will launch ITV1 HD on Freeview, starting with London by end of 2009 - Broadcast Now article.
- A consumer survey by Deloitte & Yougov has found more than half of people wouldn’t watch more VOD even if they had a faster, more reliable broadband connection. 29% said they didn’t see the point in watching TV online. Media Guardian article here.
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Related news roundup - 2 August
Once more into the breach of VOD/IPTV/regulation/general video news from the last fortnight:
- Arqiva, the broadcast & radio infrastructure provider, was confirmed to have purchased the assets of the Project Kangaroo VOD project. The Guardian (article - 24 July) has the purchase price at about £8million and covering the hardware, software technology, related IP, and the intended to be consumer-facing “See Saw” brand name. PaidContentUK (article - 24 July) has more info from Arqiva’s strategy director, saying the purchase is a “natural progression” for them, that the offering will be one to consumers, and that they are currently busy actually doing content deals. NMA (article - 31 July) says that Arqiva has it rumoured to have appointed Pierre-Jean Sebert as CEO of the new Kangaroo. The article says that Sebert for the last 3 years has been director of the rights negotiation and multimedia channel development at Reel Enterprises.
- Microsoft UK got a lot of coverage of its announcement that it will launch a free-to-view VOD service, showing archive content from BBC Worldwide. It’s launching with (just) 350 hours of programming - shows include Peep Show, Hustle & Hotel Babylon. (Independent article here - 30 July). Pre-roll ads will be used to monetise (with launch ads all being bought by GroupM agencies including MEC & Mediacom - TheRegister article).
- ITV has closed its future technology department. The department, headed by Simon Fell, was involved in ITV’s launch of HD & mobile & online services (including those ads to be inserted into VOD clips layed over white/blank spaces) (article from BrandRepublic).
- BT Vision continues to struggle to acquire new customers in any sizeable numbers. From Broadband TV News (article here) after accounting for inactive customers[(I'm not sure what BT are defining as an "inactive"] they have added just 10,000 new customers for the quarter ending June 30.
- Sky will launch a true pull VOD offering to its HD customers next year, according to Paid Content UK - article here. (HD customers because the HD set top boxes have the ethernet connection needed.) Still with Sky, its like-for-like profit rose by 4% year on year (the total profit rise was much larger for the year to July, due to much less of the ITV stake writedown occuring in the last financial year than the previous one). Sky added 124,000 new customers in the last quarter. Telegraph article is here.
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Project Canvas news roundup - 05 July
A collection of all things directly related to Project Canvas from the last two weeks:
- TechRadar: BSkyB’s (Sky’s) director of strategic product development, Gerry O’Sullivan, confirmed that they are definitely still interested in what opportunities Canvas could present them. Not too surprising, especially given the Canvas spec is understood to also include some way of having paid content in addition to the bulk free content. O’Sullivan speaking at the Intellect Consumer Electronics conference after seeing a demo of the service: ‘ “I mean to be quite honest I’ve learned more from listening to Erik [Huggers] about Canvas today than I’ve ever heard before.” ‘.
- At the Intellect Consumer Electronics conference this week, the BBC’s Canvas point man apparently showed a demo of the service. If anyone was there, get in touch - we’d love to hear a description of what was shown.
- At TechRadar: One thing that is available from the conference is a transcript of a short video promo explaining Canvas, also shown by Huggers. It’s not clear whether the promo was made internally, or by one of the ad agencies thought to be have been pitching for the account (it’s also not publicly known if a winner for the pitch was ever decided, and whether there’s an agency currently working on how to communicate Canvas to the public).
- TechRadar: Still at the same Intellect conference, Sony UK head Steve Dowdle has said the UK focus of the Canvas standards worries him, citing the figure of 4% global market share that the UK makes up.
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The BSkyB objection
Sky yesterday was circulating its submission to the BBC Trust’s consultation on Project Canvas, and it received a lot of coverage.
Julian at Broadband TV News has a nice short but thorough summary of Sky’s objections (an even shorter summary: “everything”).
As we tweeted about late yesterday, Canvas issued a response.
The response reads as follows:
“The enormous consumer benefits that internet-powered TV can bring should not be restricted to paying customers. An open, standards-based platform, that enables a far greater range of content providers to enter the market, will be good for content owners and good for consumers - who gain a subscription-free alternative.”
“Freeview and Freesat transformed digital TV, and showed what standards-based platforms can do for audiences and the industry. Canvas has the potential to do the same for the next generation of TV, bringing content on-demand from a huge range of providers into the living room, all for a one-off fee. Access to the Canvas platform would be open to any third-party, including Sky.”
The BBC Trust also issued a statement:
“In assessing the BBC Executive’s application to join the Project Canvas joint venture, the Trust has followed the processes set out in the BBC’s Charter and Agreement. The Trust’s rigorous assessment will include consideration of both the public value and market impact of the proposal. The Trust has already concluded a seven-week period of public consultation and a second period of public consultation is also planned.”
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