Project Canvas set to get go ahead

Project Canvas, an open source platform that provides a range of services through a broadband connection, is set to get the green light next week, which means that the BBC will be able to push ahead with its plans.

It has been reported that the BBC is set to continue forward with its Project Canvas, which is a joint venture that will provide a range of services through a broadband connection. The project will work through a set top box that plugs into the Internet and provides services such as free-to-view, HD, video-on-demand and internet services.

The project will bring together the UK’s major terestrial channels, and a number of media, communications, and Internet giants are part of the joint venture with the BBC, including BT and Talk Talk. The governing board of the BBC is set to confirm approval of the project to go ahead next week.

The project works in the same way as Freeview, but instead uses a set top box. In addition to the BBC, the other terrestrial giants, Channel 4. Channel 5, and ITV have come on board. However, the project has been opposed by some including media giants BskyB and Virgin Media, both of which offer their own broadband internet services.

An official from BskyB said: ‘Sky do not believe that Canvas should be allowed to proceed, or at least, not with the BBC, and the licence fee, playing an active role. Given its unique and privileged position in receipt of substantial and guaranteed public funding, the proposals remain inconsistent with the BBC’s obligations to adopt the least intrusive and most proportionate means of fulfilling its core public service purpose.’

Source – Daily Mail