Fox, NBC and CBS look to fill vacuum left by Kangaroo's demise

20 Apr 2009 | 12.17 Europe/London

ITV’s Chief Executive Michael Grade’s warning that the British regulatory system could give American rivals an unfair advantage may be starting to be realised as both Hulu and TV.com admit to holding talks with UK broadcasters and content owners to launch their services here.

With the scrapping of Kangaroo, through which the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV were to pool content on a single video on demand platform, a vacuum has been left which both American companies appear to be keen to take advantage of.

Fresh from achieving the notable status of being only second to YouTube at the start of the year (through serving 350m video streams per month), Hulu has revealed it is now eyeing up partnerships which will allow it to enter the UK market. The service is a joint venture between NBC and Fox and streams many well known programmes owned by the two brands, such as 24 and The Simpsons. It is rivalled by TV.com which is much younger but has the backing of CBS.

UK viewers are currently barred, through copyright contracts, from watching either service although TV.com does offer a limited news and clips package to British consumers.

The fact that both are now revealing, in the wake of Kangaroo being scrapped by the Competition Commission, that they are each seeking UK partnerships would suggest that Michael Grade’s warning could be coming to fruition.

Last year, when Kangaroo was referred to the Competition Commission he blasted that American rivals “are free to build market dominating positions on line in the UK without so much as a regulatory murmur” and that there needs to be a “level playing field”.

In other words, whilst the Competition Commission has outlawed Kangaroo it would not lift a proverbial finger if the same content, or much of it, were snapped up by an American service beyond its jurisdiction.

Details of precisely who is talking to whom is still under wraps, with neither Hulu or TV.com revealing the extent of partnership negotiations, but one can assume ITV and Channel 4 are both being actively targeted as well as the major content production houses.

In the meantime, whilst negotiations take place, the next major piece of news from either party is likely to be an iPhone application which will allow owners to watch Hulu on the move in America.