Digital TV News

Virgin Media challenges Project Canvas

Tuesday 4 May, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Digital TV venture Project Canvas has come under fire from Virgin Media, as the cable TV giant makes a submission to the Office of Fair Trading because it feels Canvas will “not be an open platform”.

Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com), the UK’s largest cable TV provider, has voiced its concerns about Project Canvas by making a submission to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Project Canvas is an on-demand TV service that is being developed by the BBC in partnership with ITV, Channel 4, Five, Arqiva, BT and TalkTalk.

If it is launched, it will allow users to watch catch-up TV on services like the BBC iPlayer and 4oD, as well as the standard TV channels on Freeview, and internet TV services such as BT Vision and TalkTalk TV via an internet-connected set-top box.

Canvas was given a preliminary go-ahead by the BBC Trust but now faces an investigation by the OFT following complaints from rival digital TV providers Virgin Media and Sky.

Virgin Media’s chief executive, Neil Berkett, has confirmed that the digital TV provider has made a “highly critical” submission to the OFT’s review of Project Canvas, expressing its views on the venture.

Speaking in the Guardian, Berkett said: “Canvas needs to be an open platform but it is closed and will require a dedicated set-top box.

“We will oppose it vigorously if it is not an open world at large for customers to take advantage of. [The current plans] are asking pay-TV customers to buy a second set-top box,” he added.

Like other critics, Berkett also believes that Canvas represents a misuse of the BBC’s licence fee, as it will create a service that not everyone will be able to benefit from. “It is funded by the BBC licence fee and should be available everywhere, on a Virgin box, a PS3 and even a Sky box,” he said.