Kangaroo skates into reality

01/01/2008

The much talked-about three-way joint venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, dubbed Project Kangaroo will take off in 2008. Although initially available only via the web, there are plans for development on other platforms later. For viewers, consolidating content in one place offers convenience - a one-stop shop offering 10,000 hours of programming. This means that fewer applications which effectively perform the same task for different content providers need to be installed. For broadcasters, this means R&D cost-savings. For advertisers, this obviously means broader reach. Third-party content providers will also be included. It isn’t clear yet how the recently relaunched iPlayer will co-exist alongside this project. Content on the iPlayer is free to residents of the UK and funded by TV licence fees. A Guardian report in December raised the issue that the traditional link between the BBC and the licence fee could be broken as a result of wide-ranging reforms being considered by the media regulator, Ofcom.

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