Ad industry blasts Kangaroo decision

by Anne Cassidy, Campaign 05-Feb-09, 06:55

LONDON - The decision by the Competition Commission to block Project Kangaroo, the proposed online TV venture between ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Worldwide, has been criticised by the ad industry.

The commission blocked the venture on Wednesday on the grounds that it would pose too much of a threat to competition in the video-on-demand market, and expressed concern about the amount of control the broadcasters involved would have over UK-originated TV content.

Chris Locke, the trading director of VivaKi Trading UK, said the ruling presented a ?setback for VoD: "There was an opportunity for advertisers to talk to consumers in a different way by having all the content in the same place.

"Advertisers would have been able to access a different church of consumers and engage with them on a one-to-one basis. Most of the viewing is lean-forward with consumers forced to watch an ad in order to view the programme."

Locke added that VoD still has the chance to grow due to the decline in TV revenue.

Matt Simpson, the chairman of the IPA Digital Media Group, said the ruling was a loss for digital media.

"Kangaroo was held by a lot of agencies as a potential catalyst for spending and investment into digital," he said.

Michael Grade, the ITV executive chairman, said: "We are surprised by this decision because we believed that the Kangaroo joint venture, competing in a crowded online world against dominant global brands, was an attractive UK consumer proposition, free at the point of use."

Comments

PETER SCOTT-SMITH - 05/02/2009

Kangaroo slaughter was the only option open to Ofcom. The UK government wouldn't dare upset Rupert Murdoch by sanctioning a competitor that could KO BskyB's SkyPlayer VoD service. Likewise Sky's US-owned cable compatriot Virgin Media would not have been best pleased by the birth of Kangaroo. Those of us with long memories remember something similar back in the early 90s when the \(John Major) government of the day forced BT out of the VoD market in favour of the then new US cable companies Telewest and NTL.

PETER SCOTT-SMITH - 05/02/2009

Erratum. Mu first sentence \(above) should have read:"Kangaroo slaughter was the only option open to the Competition Commission." Ofcom, of course, had put the boot in much earlier.