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Microsoft enters UK VOD market, Channel Five joins Project Canvas
30 Jul 2009 | 20.57 Europe/London
Microsoft has admitted it's going to be playing catch-up in the British video-on-demand (VOD) marketplace. The Redmond corporation has announced its new service will feature content originally broadcast on BBC and ITV - just as Channel Five made its own announcement that it's becoming the first new partner of Project Canvas, the upcoming IPTV system being developed by the very same terrestrial channels.
Under the moniker MSN Video, Microsoft's new ad-supported VOD service will début with 350 hours of programming not available to fans of any existing online catch-up service, including the popular BBC iPlayer. On the licence-funded side of things, that means shows like Hustle, Mock the Week and That Mitchell and Webb Look; also set to feature are programmes produced for ITV or Channel 4 by All3Media - programmes like Midsomer Murders and Shameless. They'll all be streamed at 512KBit/s via Windows Media Video and Flash formats, with 30 seconds of commercials played out before videos and ad-breaks every 15 minutes after that.
MSN Video is being overseen by a former BBC executive involved in launching iPlayer: Ashley Highfield, currently Microsoft's vice-president of consumer and online services. It's set to kick off with a six month trial - and Highfield's hoping to secure the full backing of ITV and Channel 4 by the time it's out of this beta phase (instead of only the independent producer behind some of their biggest programmes). "We want to be a one-stop shop for the best British content," he says: "the ultimate aggregator."
Meanwhile, Channel Five is stepping up to the forth plinth of Project Canvas, placing it alongside the elder statesmen of the BT, ITV and the BBC. It's now an equal partner in their endeavour, which aims to set the technical standards of an IPTV future based around broadband-enabled set top boxes. With the BBC having estimated that Canvas will eat up £24 million across its first five years, that could mean Five will have to stump up £6 million in investment. However, reports suggest further partners could emerge, such as the Digital TV Group, which counts Fujitsu, Pace and - you guessed it - Microsoft amongst its members.
The official line from Five is that Canvas is "critical to the long-term future of subscription-free TV." "Project Canvas is an important step forward because it will extend choice and significantly improve the television experience for viewers," says Dawn Airey, Five's chair and chief executive. "Its widespread adoption is central to driving Digital Britain. It's vital for broadcasters and other industry stakeholders to form partnerships such as Canvas if they are to open up new commercial opportunities and thrive in the digital world." Richard Halton, the Project's director, says Canvas is about "democratising access to the living room" - which hopefully won't mean military intervention, as it did with the failed iRack.
Jokes aside, further involvement from other large media firms could be crucial to the success of both MSN Video and Project Canvas. With no original programming of its own, Microsoft is particular has American VOD service Hulu's foreseen September UK launch to worry about, otherwise MSN Video could go the way of Soapbox, the Redmond firm's doomed YouTube rival. For its part, after the extinction of Project Kangaroo, Canvas surely has to be more weary of regulators that commercial competitors - but it does want a total of seven partners; right now it's three short.
Further details at [IPTV Watch] & [Digital Spy]
Under the moniker MSN Video, Microsoft's new ad-supported VOD service will début with 350 hours of programming not available to fans of any existing online catch-up service, including the popular BBC iPlayer. On the licence-funded side of things, that means shows like Hustle, Mock the Week and That Mitchell and Webb Look; also set to feature are programmes produced for ITV or Channel 4 by All3Media - programmes like Midsomer Murders and Shameless. They'll all be streamed at 512KBit/s via Windows Media Video and Flash formats, with 30 seconds of commercials played out before videos and ad-breaks every 15 minutes after that.
MSN Video is being overseen by a former BBC executive involved in launching iPlayer: Ashley Highfield, currently Microsoft's vice-president of consumer and online services. It's set to kick off with a six month trial - and Highfield's hoping to secure the full backing of ITV and Channel 4 by the time it's out of this beta phase (instead of only the independent producer behind some of their biggest programmes). "We want to be a one-stop shop for the best British content," he says: "the ultimate aggregator."
Meanwhile, Channel Five is stepping up to the forth plinth of Project Canvas, placing it alongside the elder statesmen of the BT, ITV and the BBC. It's now an equal partner in their endeavour, which aims to set the technical standards of an IPTV future based around broadband-enabled set top boxes. With the BBC having estimated that Canvas will eat up £24 million across its first five years, that could mean Five will have to stump up £6 million in investment. However, reports suggest further partners could emerge, such as the Digital TV Group, which counts Fujitsu, Pace and - you guessed it - Microsoft amongst its members.
The official line from Five is that Canvas is "critical to the long-term future of subscription-free TV." "Project Canvas is an important step forward because it will extend choice and significantly improve the television experience for viewers," says Dawn Airey, Five's chair and chief executive. "Its widespread adoption is central to driving Digital Britain. It's vital for broadcasters and other industry stakeholders to form partnerships such as Canvas if they are to open up new commercial opportunities and thrive in the digital world." Richard Halton, the Project's director, says Canvas is about "democratising access to the living room" - which hopefully won't mean military intervention, as it did with the failed iRack.
Jokes aside, further involvement from other large media firms could be crucial to the success of both MSN Video and Project Canvas. With no original programming of its own, Microsoft is particular has American VOD service Hulu's foreseen September UK launch to worry about, otherwise MSN Video could go the way of Soapbox, the Redmond firm's doomed YouTube rival. For its part, after the extinction of Project Kangaroo, Canvas surely has to be more weary of regulators that commercial competitors - but it does want a total of seven partners; right now it's three short.
Further details at [IPTV Watch] & [Digital Spy]