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Sky blasts Canvas.... again!
12 Oct 2009 | 17.52 Europe/London
In a second submission to the BBC Trust Sky has again accused the publicly funded broadcaster of “riding a coach and horses” through the embryonic market for online television.
In another stinging attack on Project Canvas, published this evening, the satellite broadcaster and ISP accuses the BBC of misspending licence fee money to “stifle innovation” in IPTV by creating its own platform, along with ITV, BT and Five.
However, its seven page submission to the BBC Trust then goes on to seemingly contradict itself by pointing that although it concedes Canvas will be an open platform, it feels there have not been enough detail on its specification and if any parts will remain proprietary. It further criticises the proposed platform for not publishing enough details on pay tv specifications and forewarns that the system could eventually end up becoming UK-specific rather than interoperable with other countries’ technologies.
Hence, the submissions calls on the Trust to enforce the BBC and its Canvas partners to consult with other industry bodies on the development of any potential standards, particularly in Pay TV.
Clarification on iPlayer
Sky is also again accusing the BBC of not being clear whether BBC on demand content will be limited to its own iPlayer service. In other words, the satellite broadcaster is clearly suggesting that it would be unfair of the BBC to spend money on a new platform on which it restricts the iPlayer service to BBC content.
The submission finished with yet another request for the BBC Trust to find out and publish how much licence fee payers’ money has been spent so far on developing the Canvas platform and how much more is expected to be spent before the eventual set top boxes are launched – the BBC is hoping to get approval before Spring 2010 and have Canvas units on sale for Christmas 2010.
BBC assures Canvas is open
There was little new in the Sky submission and, in fact, the document made repeated references to past questions the satellite broadcaster had asked the Trust but to which it felt there had not been sufficiently clear answers.
For its part the BBC has long been aware of Sky’s position which it was always expecting from a commercial rival to Freeview and hence, if approved, Canvas.
The BBC line has always been that the platform will be open to any broadcaster of free-to-air and pay tv and so is not a threat to existing subscription television services, such as those offered by Sky and Virgin Media.
The BBC Trust expects the current consultation on whether Canvas should be allowed to proceed to lead to its preliminary conclusions being published this autumn.
In another stinging attack on Project Canvas, published this evening, the satellite broadcaster and ISP accuses the BBC of misspending licence fee money to “stifle innovation” in IPTV by creating its own platform, along with ITV, BT and Five.
However, its seven page submission to the BBC Trust then goes on to seemingly contradict itself by pointing that although it concedes Canvas will be an open platform, it feels there have not been enough detail on its specification and if any parts will remain proprietary. It further criticises the proposed platform for not publishing enough details on pay tv specifications and forewarns that the system could eventually end up becoming UK-specific rather than interoperable with other countries’ technologies.
Hence, the submissions calls on the Trust to enforce the BBC and its Canvas partners to consult with other industry bodies on the development of any potential standards, particularly in Pay TV.
Clarification on iPlayer
Sky is also again accusing the BBC of not being clear whether BBC on demand content will be limited to its own iPlayer service. In other words, the satellite broadcaster is clearly suggesting that it would be unfair of the BBC to spend money on a new platform on which it restricts the iPlayer service to BBC content.
The submission finished with yet another request for the BBC Trust to find out and publish how much licence fee payers’ money has been spent so far on developing the Canvas platform and how much more is expected to be spent before the eventual set top boxes are launched – the BBC is hoping to get approval before Spring 2010 and have Canvas units on sale for Christmas 2010.
BBC assures Canvas is open
There was little new in the Sky submission and, in fact, the document made repeated references to past questions the satellite broadcaster had asked the Trust but to which it felt there had not been sufficiently clear answers.
For its part the BBC has long been aware of Sky’s position which it was always expecting from a commercial rival to Freeview and hence, if approved, Canvas.
The BBC line has always been that the platform will be open to any broadcaster of free-to-air and pay tv and so is not a threat to existing subscription television services, such as those offered by Sky and Virgin Media.
The BBC Trust expects the current consultation on whether Canvas should be allowed to proceed to lead to its preliminary conclusions being published this autumn.