Digital TV News

Project Canvas comes under attack by IP Vision

Monday 23 August, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Internet TV provider IP Vision has filed a formal complaint with regulator Ofcom about Project Canvas, saying the new on-demand web TV service will “inhibit competition and restrict consumer choice”.

Project Canvas, a new on-demand TV venture that is expected to revolutionise the way Brits watch TV, has come under repeated attack in recent months.

If it is launched, Project Canvas will offer viewers catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer and 4oD, as well as standard Freeview TV channels, via an internet-connected set-top box.

The venture is being developed by the BBC with backing from ITV, Channel 4, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva, and it could launch on set-top boxes in early 2011, bringing “internet TV to the masses”.

IP Vision, an internet TV provider that already offers a similar service called FetchTV, believes that Project Canvas will “stifle industry innovation, inhibit competition and ultimately restrict consumer choice”.

Eddie Abrams, chief executive of IP Vision, said that the “industry Goliaths” involved in Canvas are developing a dominant platform in the emerging IPTV market.

He added: “The consumer will end up paying the price of an uncompetitive market in the form of restricted content, service and technology choice. For that reason, we have asked Ofcom to review whether the Canvas joint venture is in breach of the Competition Act 1998.”

IP Vision is not the only provider to voice its concerns about Project Canvas - cable TV giant Virgin Media also claimed that the partners developing the TV service were failing to maintain their pledge to create a shared set of standards for internet TV services.

Ofcom will review the complaints over the next two months to see whether it needs to launch a fuller investigation into the competition concerns. Project Canvas will continue to be developed during the review.