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Kangaroo (video on demand)
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Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed video on demand platform offering content from BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), ITV.com and Channel 4's 4oD, initially expected to launch in 2008, but blocked by the Competition Commission in 2009. Unlike the BBC iPlayer, which is publicly funded and has no plans to carry any paid content, Kangaroo would have allowed users to purchase content from a large back catalogue. As noted below, the plan to link to content on BBC iPlayer means that it would have provided a single broadband VOD service for the key three broadcasters in the UK.
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Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed video on demand platform offering content from BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC), ITV.com and Channel 4's 4oD, initially expected to launch in 2008, but blocked by the Competition Commission in 2009. Unlike the BBC iPlayer, which is publicly funded and has no plans to carry any paid content, Kangaroo would have allowed users to purchase content from a large back catalogue. As noted below, the plan to link to content on BBC iPlayer means that it would have provided a single broadband VOD service for the key three broadcasters in the UK. It should be noted that Kangaroo is the project name; the final name and brand of the service was never announced, but it was believed it would have been known as SeeSaw.
The three networks behind the project would continue to offer content independently of the service, with ITV and Channel 4 planning to offer catch up services through their own websites, and the BBC saying that it will not replace the iPlayer, but content from the iPlayer would be "listed within" the new service. However, it was expected that 4oD would be subsumed into Kangaroo. Capablue were the lead consultants on the project. The site was expected to be powered by Kontiki and developed by ioko.
It was announced on 14 April 2008 that Ashley Highfield, Director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC, had been appointed the CEO of Kangaroo. Ashley Highfield has now left the project, and has gone to Microsoft.
On 30 June 2008, the UK's Office of Fair Trading referred the proposal to the Competition Commission with concerns that "there was a danger that the platform could be too powerful". The Commission published an interim report on 03 December saying that the service could "hurt competition" and a final report on 04 February 2009 blocking the project.
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