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BlinkBox and you won't miss it
20 Aug 2009 | 19.43 Europe/London
Video-on-demand service BlinkBox is the latest to sign a deal to host BBC content, following hot on the heals of MSN Video. But whereas the Microsoft offering is all about streaming, its UK-based rival appears to have a very different distribution model up its sleeve as the competition in the British VOD heats up.
BlinkBox was founded by former senior executives at Channel 4 and Vodafone (Michael Comish and Adrian Letts respectively) and, while currently available in Britain and Ireland. It can now sell seventy-five BBC shows - or, specifically, BBC Worldwide shows - including Planet Earth and Top Gear, neither of which are strangers to retail success on hard formats. Individual programmes will cost from £1.89 - and, according to the Financial Times, BlinkBox has had to pay the BBC some of money it hopes to make upfront.
Co-founder and CEO Comish is confident his company's onto a winner. “You have to ask the question – why is Top Gear one of the highest selling DVD box sets in the UK? People like to consumer media in different ways and are starting to want to own TV content digitally and forever," he told the Telegraph. “Look at music as an analogy. The majority of people are very happy embracing digital files rather than CDs. This is still a nascent market. DVD sales will be replaced by digital downloads." However, while Comish is quick to advertise that BlinkBox recorded one and a half million streams last month, only ten per cent of the site's traffic was paid-for downloads. And, of course, its strategy of selling individual shows puts it in direct competition with Apple's iTunes juggernaut.
According to the Telegraph, "typically the BBC content available on Blinkbox will date from the end of 2008 through to the start of 2009" - but the BBC's indicated the range of shows won't be quite so narrow. “Audiences are demanding a wide variety of options of how to watch their favourite content," says BBC Worldwide's director of Digital Content Partnerships, Simon Danker. " We’re pleased that through Blinkbox, fans of TV classics such as The Young Ones, Doctor Who and Planet Earth will have another destination to watch these popular shows.”
The UK VOD service already has a deal in place with All3Media, which - along with the Beeb - provides the content available on MSN Video. As with Microsoft's VOD offering, certain (in this case older) BBC shows like Doctor Who and Hustle will be viewable for free and supported by advertising. And like the "pilot" MS catch-up site, BlinkBox has high hopes of courting other UK programme makers. “This is our first deal with a UK broadcaster but I hope it will grow and lead to other things," Comish continues. "We are in talks with ITV and Channel 4 about getting their content onto our site too."
When the Competition Commission killed of Project Kangaroo, it did so because it feared the venture - for which the BBC was one of the core partners - would unfairly dominate what's often referred to as the "nascent" British VOD marketplace. Now the BBC has shown its willing to play the video-on-demand upstarts emerging from the shadow of Kangaroo against each other. But despite Microsoft not doing to badly with its VOD pilot, Arqiva waiting in the wings and US VOD service Hulu's UK launch only a matter of time, Comish is bullish about BlinkBox's chances. “There’s been a lot of hype around foreign companies coming to the UK to fill the void left by Kangaroo," he says. "The reality is the void has already been filled by a home-grown service: Blinkbox. We are UK-based, UK-financed and UK-staffed. The addition of BBC Worldwide as a content partner helps us to fulfil Blinkbox’s mission to bring British audiences the best movies and TV online." Let the battle commence.
BlinkBox was founded by former senior executives at Channel 4 and Vodafone (Michael Comish and Adrian Letts respectively) and, while currently available in Britain and Ireland. It can now sell seventy-five BBC shows - or, specifically, BBC Worldwide shows - including Planet Earth and Top Gear, neither of which are strangers to retail success on hard formats. Individual programmes will cost from £1.89 - and, according to the Financial Times, BlinkBox has had to pay the BBC some of money it hopes to make upfront.
Co-founder and CEO Comish is confident his company's onto a winner. “You have to ask the question – why is Top Gear one of the highest selling DVD box sets in the UK? People like to consumer media in different ways and are starting to want to own TV content digitally and forever," he told the Telegraph. “Look at music as an analogy. The majority of people are very happy embracing digital files rather than CDs. This is still a nascent market. DVD sales will be replaced by digital downloads." However, while Comish is quick to advertise that BlinkBox recorded one and a half million streams last month, only ten per cent of the site's traffic was paid-for downloads. And, of course, its strategy of selling individual shows puts it in direct competition with Apple's iTunes juggernaut.
According to the Telegraph, "typically the BBC content available on Blinkbox will date from the end of 2008 through to the start of 2009" - but the BBC's indicated the range of shows won't be quite so narrow. “Audiences are demanding a wide variety of options of how to watch their favourite content," says BBC Worldwide's director of Digital Content Partnerships, Simon Danker. " We’re pleased that through Blinkbox, fans of TV classics such as The Young Ones, Doctor Who and Planet Earth will have another destination to watch these popular shows.”
The UK VOD service already has a deal in place with All3Media, which - along with the Beeb - provides the content available on MSN Video. As with Microsoft's VOD offering, certain (in this case older) BBC shows like Doctor Who and Hustle will be viewable for free and supported by advertising. And like the "pilot" MS catch-up site, BlinkBox has high hopes of courting other UK programme makers. “This is our first deal with a UK broadcaster but I hope it will grow and lead to other things," Comish continues. "We are in talks with ITV and Channel 4 about getting their content onto our site too."
When the Competition Commission killed of Project Kangaroo, it did so because it feared the venture - for which the BBC was one of the core partners - would unfairly dominate what's often referred to as the "nascent" British VOD marketplace. Now the BBC has shown its willing to play the video-on-demand upstarts emerging from the shadow of Kangaroo against each other. But despite Microsoft not doing to badly with its VOD pilot, Arqiva waiting in the wings and US VOD service Hulu's UK launch only a matter of time, Comish is bullish about BlinkBox's chances. “There’s been a lot of hype around foreign companies coming to the UK to fill the void left by Kangaroo," he says. "The reality is the void has already been filled by a home-grown service: Blinkbox. We are UK-based, UK-financed and UK-staffed. The addition of BBC Worldwide as a content partner helps us to fulfil Blinkbox’s mission to bring British audiences the best movies and TV online." Let the battle commence.