IP Vision Files Complaint With Ofcom Over Project Canvas
August 18 2010 - 1:32PM
Dow Jones News
IP Vision Wednesday said it has lodged a complaint with
communications regulator Ofcom over Project Canvas, a six-party
joint venture to bring Internet content and new video-on-demand
services to U.K. television that is due to launch in the first half
of 2011.
IP Vision is the second company to file a complaint against
Canvas after cable-television and Internet provider Virgin Media
Inc. (VMED) did so at the beginning of the month.
"We are all in favor of healthy competition that benefits both
the industry and consumers ... but this group of industry Goliaths,
supported in part by BBC license fee funds, will have the power to
dominate the sector," said Eddie Abrams, IP Vision's chief
executive.
IP Vision delivers multichannel digital TV and video on demand
entertainment using "Over The Top," or OTT, technology meaning it
doesn't have to go through other networks and can be branded for
affiliated companies.
In his letter Wednesday to Ofcom Abrams elaborated on IP
Vision's concerns previously voiced during the BBC Trust's Canvas
consultation, namely that Canvas if unchecked will, he said,
distort the market and unfairly benefit from absolute control over
the user experience for millions of viewers, with little incentive
for innovation and unfair access to and control over some of the
most popular content available.
"The removal of competition between the Canvas joint venture
partners with respect to platform, application and service
development for the delivery of video content to broadband-related
TV devices restricts competition in the market in general," said
Abrams.
Virgin Media has also argued that Project Canvas is
anticompetitive, restricts consumer choice and jeopardizes the
future development of next generation TV in the U.K..
Project Canvas, which is a collaboration between the British
Broadcasting Corp, ITV PLC (ITV.LN), BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN),
Channel 4, TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC (TALK.LN) and Arqiva Ltd.,
said at the time of Virgin Media's complaint that it will discuss
the grounds of any complaint by Virgin Media with Ofcom.
Other U.K. companies, including British Sky Broadcasting Group
PLC (BSY.LN), are also thinking about lodging a protest with Ofcom,
people familiar with the situation have previously told Dow Jones
Newswires.
News Corp. (NWS), which owns Dow Jones & Co., the publisher
of this newswire, has a stake of around 39.1% in BSkyB. .
-By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241;
marietta.cauchi@dowjones.com
BT (NYSE:BT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
BT (NYSE:BT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024