Competition Commission releases issues statement for video-on-demand JV

The UK's Competition Commission has today released an issues statement for its investigation into an online video-on-demand joint venture.

The venture, dubbed "Project Kangaroo", would see BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel Four's catch-up services and television archives combined online to provide content on-demand.  The Commission’s concerns focused on whether competition would be hampered at the retail level, enabling the venture to increase prices for content and lower the quality of its service. The Commission will also consider if the venture would result in a loss of competition in the wholesale supply of content rights to video-on-demand retailers.

In addition to the issues statement, the Commission also notified that the deadline for its inquiry has been extended.  The parties will now have to provide requested information by 8 September, and the Commission will issue its decision in January next year.

Frontier (Europe) advises BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel Four.