Arqiva appoints head of VOD service

Arqiva has completed the purchase of the technology behind Project Kangaroo and confirmed Pierre-Jean Sebert as CEO of its new VOD business.

Arqiva is going to use the the technology to launch its VOD platform in the coming months, which it says will “aim to host top-end, quality content from leading broadcasters and independent content providers with both free-to-air and pay-content propositions”.

Project Kangaroo – the joint online video service from BBC Worldwide, Channel 4 and ITV – was blocked by the Competition Commission in February, who ruled that it would be “likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the supply of UK TV VoD content”.

Arqiva also confirmed the appointment of Pierre-Jean Sebert as CEO of its VOD business.

Sebert was managing director UK for Eurosport from 2001 to 2005 and had previously engineered the joint-venture with NTL for the launch of British Eurosport in 1999.

More recently he has been working as a senior advisor to major media and entertainment companies including Virgin Media, ONO, UKTV, Rainbow Media, UEFA, and Broadcast Australia.

Sebert said: “I’m very much looking forward to leading the launch of this new platform and to establish it as a prominent proposition in the market.

“It’s an important new route for quality long-form content to reach an additional audience, and complements Arqiva’s traditional role in terrestrial broadcasting. We have rapidly established ourselves operationally and have already made significant progress with our consumer proposition, both in terms of user experience and content acquisition. We will share our vision and progress in due time.”

Arqiva is just one of a number of players hoping to dominate the VOD landscape, with ITV set to announce a content deal with online video service Hulu.