Project Canvas news roundup - 05 July

Posted by andrew pascoe on July 5, 2009 · View Comments 

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

Posted by andrew pascoe on May 13, 2009 · View Comments 

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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