Canvas & related news roundup - 1 Sep

Posted by andrew pascoe on September 1, 2009 · View Comments 

Canvas news:

  • Today (Sep 1) sees the close of the BBC Trust’s latest public consultation on Canvas. The next step is for the Trust to publish their provisional conclusions, sometime in the autumn, which will then kick off a final four week consultation period.
  • NDS, the middleware provider, has reportedly said it wants Canvas to use its audience measurement system. C21 article here (subscription only I’m afraid, so I’m basing this just on tweets).
  • In this Telegraph article CEO of Five, Dawn Airey, uses the example of micropayments as a way to watch episodes before linear transmission.

IPTV & VOD-related news:

The two biggest related news stories this week first:

  • Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) was launched. It’s a consortium made up of European / pan-European companies including Canal+, France Televisions, SES Astra, ANT, and OpenTV. Like Canvas, it is about specifications that bring broadcast and internet content together into devices. Unlike Canvas, it is aiming to be a pan-European effort. Will HbbTV have made a submission to the BBC Trust’s consultation that closed today?
  • James Murdoch uses his McTaggart Lecture spot to blast the activities of the BBC. He has called for either a greatly reduced scope (& licence fee) in the activities the organisation provides for free.
  • Dawn Airey, in the same Telegraph article, says two VOD-related announcements will be made “imminently”, but has ruled out either to have any Hulu connection. That would leave Arqiva & YouTube as the most likely - but of course, far from the only - candidates.  Update: 3 Sep: One of these announcements has now been made: it is a trial with Sony on their internet-connected Bravia TVs. The Guardian article here.
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Five officially joins Project Canvas… Yes?

Posted by andrew pascoe on July 30, 2009 · View Comments 

We have read that Five, the RTL-owned broadcaster, has officially joined Project Canvas.

It started with an article on The Telegraph site yesterday afternoon - here. This morning both The Guardian and C21Media have the same story.

Yesterday when the Tele’s story appeared, we wondered (on Twitter) if Five had actually officially confirmed their joining, or if the article was totally based on the mention of Five in the extra information documents supplied by the BBC management to the BBC Trust on Friday - in Section 1 (PDF) that gives more detail on the structure, Five are mentioned on page 3 as an “anticipated” one of three PSBs (see our post here on the extra information).

Now The Guardian and C21 Media have run the story, it is starting to sound official. The Guardian article has a quote from chief exec Dawn Airey, but it’s not entirely clear its current (to my mind it sounds familiar to views she gave at a broadcasting conference earlier this month - although I can’t find it verbatim at all).

There is nothing on the Five site - their press release page is here - but it hasn’t had anything of any sort added in the last week, so not sure how timely that page is. (There’s also nothing on Five owner RTL’s site, but that’s not unexpected.)

So the question is a simple one: Can someone from Five please confirm whether you are officially now involved in Project Canvas?

Update - 20:00: Five put the press release on their site during today, and the announcement has gotten coverage from many sites .  The same two para quote that everyone is running, from chief exec Dawn Airey:

“Project Canvas is an important step forward because it will extend choice and significantly improve the television experience for viewers. Its widespread adoption is central to driving Digital Britain.

“It’s vital for broadcasters and other industry stakeholders to form partnerships such as Canvas if they’re to open up new commercial opportunities and thrive in the digital world.”

Also - Silicon.com have an interview with Five’s head of strategy. Their key rationale? Joining lets them be involved in the platform itself, rather than just being a content provider (in the way they are with Freeview).


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