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Profile: IP Vision’s Peter Cox says Sky deal puts paint on their canvas
15 Oct 2009 | 15.34 Europe/London
Getting a deal to put Sky Player on its IP Vision’s Fetch TV set top box is a coup which its Business and Marketing Director, Peter Cox, believes will show it is doing what Canvas is talking about, only right here and now. In essence, he jokes, it is like having a canvas, only theirs has got some paint on it.
The announcement comes as the end of a good summer for the company in which it added the BBC’s iPlayer to its service line up and secure distribution for its £219 Fetch TV SmartBox through John Lewis. The piece of kit is essentially a Freeview box with video on demand (VOD), internet television (IPTV) and home networking included. For IPTV, VOD and streaming content between a PC and a SmartBox or several SmartBoxes, it has an Ethernet or wireless connection, as well as an optional ‘wireline’ facility where broadband can be sent through a house’s electric wiring.
Sky Player soon
The inclusion of Sky Player should see box owners watching Sky content (including movies and sport) from the New Year onwards, prompting Peter Cox to comment the company is a bit like Canvas but with the added bonus of being in the shops right now.
“We get likened to Canvas but I guess the main difference is we’re out there available now and we’re actually doing it,” he says.
“We’ve got video on demand from two movies studios, Paramount and Disney, as well as many other partners, we’ve got all the Freeview channels plus most of the Sky channels from early New Year and our box is like a home networking centre, you can stream content from one box to another or from your PC to one of our boxes.
“We’re hoping to build up our content partners and so we’re in the process of talking to other content providers, such as other movie studios, for video on demand, and ITV and Channel 4, for their catch up services. I wouldn’t expect any more major announcements before Christmas, though.”
Canvas concerns
On the thorny issue of Canvas, Cox reveals that the company has contributed to the BBC Trust’s current consultation on whether the project should get the go ahead. While he is not publishing the content of its submission, Cox reveals he shares the same concerns outlined by Sky recently on licence payers’ money being put in to developing a new platform.
Where Cox is far more open about the company’s concern on Canvas is the openness of the partners (BBC, C4, BT and Five) on the platform they’re providing.
“We’d love to know more about the platform but the Canvas guys need to publish the platform and what they’re actually working on,” he says.
“We think we’d be able to integrate it in to our box but until they show us what it is, there’s no way we can know. The set top box manufacturers are saying exactly the same thing, they want to see some detail so they can plan.”
The announcement comes as the end of a good summer for the company in which it added the BBC’s iPlayer to its service line up and secure distribution for its £219 Fetch TV SmartBox through John Lewis. The piece of kit is essentially a Freeview box with video on demand (VOD), internet television (IPTV) and home networking included. For IPTV, VOD and streaming content between a PC and a SmartBox or several SmartBoxes, it has an Ethernet or wireless connection, as well as an optional ‘wireline’ facility where broadband can be sent through a house’s electric wiring.
Sky Player soon
The inclusion of Sky Player should see box owners watching Sky content (including movies and sport) from the New Year onwards, prompting Peter Cox to comment the company is a bit like Canvas but with the added bonus of being in the shops right now.
“We get likened to Canvas but I guess the main difference is we’re out there available now and we’re actually doing it,” he says.
“We’ve got video on demand from two movies studios, Paramount and Disney, as well as many other partners, we’ve got all the Freeview channels plus most of the Sky channels from early New Year and our box is like a home networking centre, you can stream content from one box to another or from your PC to one of our boxes.
“We’re hoping to build up our content partners and so we’re in the process of talking to other content providers, such as other movie studios, for video on demand, and ITV and Channel 4, for their catch up services. I wouldn’t expect any more major announcements before Christmas, though.”
Canvas concerns
On the thorny issue of Canvas, Cox reveals that the company has contributed to the BBC Trust’s current consultation on whether the project should get the go ahead. While he is not publishing the content of its submission, Cox reveals he shares the same concerns outlined by Sky recently on licence payers’ money being put in to developing a new platform.
Where Cox is far more open about the company’s concern on Canvas is the openness of the partners (BBC, C4, BT and Five) on the platform they’re providing.
“We’d love to know more about the platform but the Canvas guys need to publish the platform and what they’re actually working on,” he says.
“We think we’d be able to integrate it in to our box but until they show us what it is, there’s no way we can know. The set top box manufacturers are saying exactly the same thing, they want to see some detail so they can plan.”