We first mentioned a plan devised by television network operators BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 to form a joint Web-based video venture, code-named “Kangaroo,” last November. Which seemed rather intriguing at the time. It would allow users to do all manner of things with different pieces of content, including rent and purchase downloads, and access video streams, too.
In the months since, however, it seems some companies outside the fold haven’t been too thrilled with idea of having to contend with this new three-part concept. (Which still has yet to launch.)
Writing today from the Telegraph newsroom, Juliette Garside delineates an argument made by BSkyB and Virgin Media and even Joost, a Web video project previously praised extensively for its delivery of streaming video but currently seen as underperforming for lack of much relevant content, that Kangaroo raises some concern for proponents of competition.
The content producers and broadcasters holding red flags in light of Kangaroo’s development told the UK government’s Office of Fair Trading, when asked to present “views on whether Kangaroo could damage competition in the nascent video on-demand market,” that the merger struck late last year, in the words of BSkyB and Virgin together, “raises concerns.” Garside goes on to write that the most vehement opponent of Kangaroo’s continued and unregulated construction is in fact Joost. The basis Joost’s position on the matter is the fact that the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 have not supplied content to Joost for broadcast. A conflict over price is said to be to blame. (Joost is also said to want the ability to sell advertising itself alongside programming culled from those respective networks’ catalogues.)
Of course, one could cite the sheer sizes of the BBC and its partners as evidence that Kangaroo could unfairly sequester competitors into a permanent minority - if those competitors are to maintain statuses independent of Kangaroo). But Kangaroo has yet to even perform on a public stage, so any fears of unmitigated domination by the joint venture are based on little more than assumptions rather than hard, time-tested fact. Furthermore, the BBC and Channel 4 have already shown a willingness to work with competitors and participate in new delivery systems of which they don’t wield explicit primary control. (I.e., the BBC distributes some shows via iTunes.) So, if anything, Kangaroo could perhaps be equated to an experimental service in the vein of US-based Hulu, whose founders, News Corp and NBC - now count third-party content providers as associates.
This isn’t to say any concerns to the contrary aren’t warranted. They may well be. But as for Kangaroo’s potential to build monopolistic control on ad pricing, that is still only a possibility, not a probability.