If you think the BBC has a clear run to make Canvas the de facto IPTV VOD platform, think again. The open project, currently seeking more partners and awaiting the BBC Trust’s verdict, is in a cross-fire between TV manufacturers (busy devising their own such initiatives), pay-TV operators (keen to remain the gateway of choice) and a parallel European project.
“We’re trying to bring in to alignment three industries,” BBC IPTV director Richard Halton (pictured) told Screen Digest’s Future of Online Media Distribution seminar on Wednesday – “content, networks and device manufacturers”.
Though Canvas aims to simplify the on-ramp to living room VOD for consumers (ITV (LSE: ITV), Five and BT (NYSE: BT) Vision are currently aboard), it’s not the only project trying the same – and requires support from some of the very folk it’s seeking as partners…
“Next year, we will launch Bravia Internet Video,” Sony’s European technology senior manager Tim Page, sitting alongside Halton on a panel, told the audience. He already counts Five, YouTube, Flickr, Dailymotion amongst over 40 content partners.
That comes after August’s announcement of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV