It’s the £20 million web TV network that never happened; now Orange is eyeing up the remains of BBCWW/ITV/C4’s Project Kangaroo VOD venture. A spokesperson tells Guardian.co.uk: “We are examining this company and we see of course that it could be interesting … On Orange TV we are very cautious about what we are saying in the UK but it could help us in developing more quickly Orange TV projects in France.” Kangaroo had about 50 staff in central London offices, but it’s understood most of them were contractors.
France already operates a successful three-screen TV service in France across mobile, broadband to the living room and PC. The service has even rolled out to Poland, Spain and Jordan. But its UK roll-out has foundered – it first announced the British launch in June 2006, then promised it would launch in 2007. Last year, Orange told us it would launch in 2008, after a 300-customer trial in Leeds, but UK CEO Tom Alexander finally canned the idea in November, admitting it