Kangaroo was the working title for a proposed

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

platform offering content from

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

(the commercial arm of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Itv.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers the ITVX streaming service, with sections for ITV News, ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's 4oD (collectively UK VOD LLP), initially expected to launch in 2008, but blocked by the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

(now Competition and Markets Authority) in 2009. Following the commission's rejection of the bid, the technology platform was put up for sale, and the broadcasters then moved on to Project Canvas and

YouView YouView TV Ltd is a British media company, a partnership of four broadcasters: the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5; and two telecommunications operators, BT Group and TalkTalk Group (formerly also Arqiva). It launched in 2012 the hybrid television ...

, and later to

BritBox BritBox is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Video on demand#Subscription models, video on demand Streaming television, streaming service founded by BBC Studios and ITV plc, ITV which operates in eight countries across Australi ...

. The project was bought by Arqiva for about £8 million on 23 July 2009, promising to launch in the 'coming months'. It was launched as

SeeSaw A seesaw (also sometimes known as a teeter-totter in North America) is a long, narrow board supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both ends; as one end goes up, the other goes down. These are most comm ...

in February 2010 but was shut down in October 2011.

The original Project Kangaroo

Unlike the

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

, which is funded through the

licence fee A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts or the possession of a television set. In some countries, a licence is also required to own a radio or rece ...

and has no plans to carry any paid content, Kangaroo would have allowed users to purchase content from a large back catalogue. As noted below, the plan to link to content on

means that it would have provided a single broadband VOD service for the key three broadcasters in the UK. Kangaroo was the project name; the final name and brand of the service was never announced, but it was believed it would have been known as SeeSaw. The three networks behind the project would continue to offer content independently of the service, with

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...

and Channel 4 planning to offer catch up services through their own websites, and the BBC saying that it will not replace the iPlayer, but content from the iPlayer would be "listed within" the new service. However, it was expected that 4oD would be subsumed into Kangaroo. It was announced on 14 April 2008 that

Ashley Highfield Ashley Highfield is Chairman of Oyster Yachts Limited (since May 2018), makers of luxury British sailing boats. He is also founder of Henley Partners limited, his vehicle for investing in and advising businesses across a range of sectors. He is ...

, Director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC, had been appointed the CEO of Kangaroo. Highfield left the project in November 2008, to work for Microsoft. On 30 June 2008, the UK's

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

referred the proposal to the

with concerns that "there was a danger that the platform could be too powerful". The Commission published an interim report on 3 December saying that the service could "hurt competition" and a final report was published on 4 February 2009, formally blocking the project.

SeeSaw

Following the commission's rejection of the bid, the technology platform was put up for sale. The bidders included

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

(who pulled out) and

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

. Arqiva launched

in February 2010 as a video-on-demand Internet TV service. It sold a majority stake to US investment firm

Criterion Capital Partners Criterion Capital Partners LLC, also known as simply Criterion, was a private equity fund based in Los Angeles, California. It was best known for being the owner of Bebo, from 2010 to 2013. History Christopher Lord co-founded the company in ...

in July 2011, but this was insufficient to save the service, which closed from lack of funding and content in October 2011.

Project Canvas

Shortly after Project Kangaroo was blocked in 2009, ''Project Canvas'' was announced as a partnership between the BBC, BT and ITV plc. It differed from Kangaroo in that it was a proposed TV platform rather than a video-on-demand service. After a lengthy regulatory approval process, it was finally launched in July 2012 as

, a hybrid platform using a set-top box combining free-to-air digital terrestrial television channels from

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

using an aerial connection, and TV on demand ("catch-up TV") services using a broadband internet connection.

BritBox

In July 2019 the BBC and ITV announced plans for their joint-venture streaming service

(then only available in the United States and Canada) to be launched in the last quarter of 2019 in the UK. In the wake of the announcement journalists linked the two projects, describing BritBox as Kangaroo's successor 11 years on. The main purpose of BritBox is for the traditional UK broadcasters to take a share of the UK streaming market from American rivals

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

, some calling the venture "British Netflix". BritBox was launched in the UK on 7 November 2019.

References

{{Reflist Defunct video on demand services