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The BBC can participate in a venture to provide on-demand video to television sets over the internet, its governing body has said. The BBC Trust has approved Project Canvas, a collaboration between the UK's main broadcasters.
The Trust, which governs the BBC's activities, has approved the project on the condition that programmes are mostly available for free; that technical details are published within 20 days; that the platform is in line with usability and accessibility standards; and that access to the platform is provided fairly.
The programme is a joint venture whose members include the UK's main terrestrial broadcasters, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five; two of its biggest ISPs, BT and Talk Talk; and satellite company Arqiva.
Consumer regulator the Office of Fair Trading cleared Project Canvas earlier this year. It is a scaled-down version of a more integrated service which would have aggregated content from the broadcasters, called Project Kangaroo. That was rejected as anti-competitive by the Competition Commission last year.
Project Kangaroo would have become the retail outlet for the broadcasters' content, and would have undermined any wholesale market for that content and damaged any other retailer's ability to sell that material on, the Competition Commission said last year.
Project Canvas is a scaled-down version of Kangaroo and will simply be a technical platform via which the broadcasters can make their programming available, mostly for free. The OFT said that Canvas was not a worry because the joint venture would not itself market or aggregate any of the broadcasters' content.
"The Trust has concluded that Project Canvas will deliver significant public value for licence fee payers – people with a broadband connection will be able to access a wide range of on-demand content including BBC iPlayer, free of charge, through their TV sets," said Diane Coyle, BBC Trustee and chair of the Trust's Strategic Approvals Committee. "We have, however, applied a number of conditions to the BBC's involvement in the venture in recognition of the potential impacts on the market if Canvas is successful."
The Trust said that the total cost of the project to the BBC must not exceed current estimates by 20% over five years, and said that it would review the project a year after its launch.
The Trust conducted four public consultations on the issue and said that its decision about whether the project was right for the BBC was based on a number of factors.
"The proposal has been considered in the context of its likely public value; whether it represents value for money; the interests and perspective of the licence fee payer; the market impact; the risk attached to the BBC's participation in Canvas; and whether Canvas is likely to comply with the law and with BBC policies," said a Trust statement.
The Project Canvas platform will take the form of a set-top box similar to that provided by pay-TV companies Virgin Media and bskyb. Access to recent and current television over the internet using the box should mostly be free, the Trust said.
"Users will always be able to access Canvas free-to-air, though they may be charged for additional pay services that third parties might choose to provide via the Canvas platform, for example video on demand services, as well as the broadband subscription fees," said conditions laid down by the Trust.
The Trust, which governs the BBC's activities, has approved the project on the condition that programmes are mostly available for free; that technical details are published within 20 days; that the platform is in line with usability and accessibility standards; and that access to the platform is provided fairly.
The programme is a joint venture whose members include the UK's main terrestrial broadcasters, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five; two of its biggest ISPs, BT and Talk Talk; and satellite company Arqiva.
Consumer regulator the Office of Fair Trading cleared Project Canvas earlier this year. It is a scaled-down version of a more integrated service which would have aggregated content from the broadcasters, called Project Kangaroo. That was rejected as anti-competitive by the Competition Commission last year.
Project Kangaroo would have become the retail outlet for the broadcasters' content, and would have undermined any wholesale market for that content and damaged any other retailer's ability to sell that material on, the Competition Commission said last year.
Project Canvas is a scaled-down version of Kangaroo and will simply be a technical platform via which the broadcasters can make their programming available, mostly for free. The OFT said that Canvas was not a worry because the joint venture would not itself market or aggregate any of the broadcasters' content.
"The Trust has concluded that Project Canvas will deliver significant public value for licence fee payers – people with a broadband connection will be able to access a wide range of on-demand content including BBC iPlayer, free of charge, through their TV sets," said Diane Coyle, BBC Trustee and chair of the Trust's Strategic Approvals Committee. "We have, however, applied a number of conditions to the BBC's involvement in the venture in recognition of the potential impacts on the market if Canvas is successful."
The Trust said that the total cost of the project to the BBC must not exceed current estimates by 20% over five years, and said that it would review the project a year after its launch.
The Trust conducted four public consultations on the issue and said that its decision about whether the project was right for the BBC was based on a number of factors.
"The proposal has been considered in the context of its likely public value; whether it represents value for money; the interests and perspective of the licence fee payer; the market impact; the risk attached to the BBC's participation in Canvas; and whether Canvas is likely to comply with the law and with BBC policies," said a Trust statement.
The Project Canvas platform will take the form of a set-top box similar to that provided by pay-TV companies Virgin Media and bskyb. Access to recent and current television over the internet using the box should mostly be free, the Trust said.
"Users will always be able to access Canvas free-to-air, though they may be charged for additional pay services that third parties might choose to provide via the Canvas platform, for example video on demand services, as well as the broadband subscription fees," said conditions laid down by the Trust.