Virgin Media aims to shut down Project Canvas
Virgin Media is intending to try and shut down video-on demand venture Project Canvas, by complaining to Ofcom that it is anti-competitive and will crush the online TV market.
It is also calling on the Office of Fair Trading to intervene, saying the the project breaches the Competition Act, and that the six partners in Project Canvas (BBC, TalkTalk, BT, Arqiva, Channel 4 and ITV) have not created a set of open standards for delivering their TV services, as they said they would.
“Collectively the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 account for around two-thirds of all television viewing in the UK while BT and TalkTalk control over half the national broadband market,” said Virgin Media.
“[Project Canvas] will stifle future innovation as well as eliminate existing consumer choice for home entertainment. These well-resourced companies are usually direct competitors in their respective markets but… they are establishing a single new TV platform of their own with a considerable incentive to favour this over other TV services. This could severley affect consumer options for watching public service programming in the future.”
“We have not taken the decision to file this complaint lightly,” added a Virgin Media spokesperson. “However, the Canvas partners have significantly exceeded their original claims to be creating a common set of open standards which could have been improved upon by others and are now intent on controlling every aspect of how people watch television.”
In response, a spokesperson for Project Canvas said: “Project Canvas expects to discuss the grounds of any complaint by Virgin Media with Ofcom. Our proposals remain unchanged and will create an open standards-based internet-connected TV environment within which competition and innovation can flourish. We remain focused on launching a consumer proposition next year that will transform people’s daily viewing experience.”
BSkyB has also attacked the BBC for being involved in Project Canvas, but has not yet officially lodged a complaint.
The Office of Fair Trading cleared Project Canvas in May, saying it “did not qualify for investigation”.
Ofcom will make a decision on whether to launch a full Competition Act inquiry within the next two months, and Project Canvas will be free to move towards a launch during this process.