The Competition Commission has published its ‘issues statement’ as part of the inquiry into Project Kangaroo, the BBC Worldwide-ITV-Channel 4 joint venture, at the same time extending the timetable by one month.
In a statement the Commission said it was still waiting for “important information” on the online video on demand service that the partners said would be available by early September. It would appear that some details are still under negotiation and there is still uncertainty as to where the lines with existing online offerings will be drawn.
The market definition drawn up by the Commission includes the delivery channel, for example over the internet or broadcast through a set-top box, the type of content (UK or non-UK) and the business model. The Commission is exploring whether this should also include personal video recorders. There is also the question as to how content rights should be directly aligned to their producers.
The Commission is now expected to publish its provisional findings in November and a full report in January.
