Arash Amel, Senior Analyst, Screen Digest: Kangaroo Was A Waste Of Time And Effort

imageIn a December 2008 report, Arash Amel of the media research firm Screen Digest said Kangaroo’s biggest threat was not the loss of VOD retail competition, but the concentration of advertising. His latest forecast is on Hulu. Writing for paidContent:UK, Amel says today’s Competition Commission ruling shows Kangaroo was “a waste of time and effort on the part of both ITV (LSE: ITV) and Channel 4“…

To any casual observer, it is abundantly clear that Project Kangaroo has never known what it was. Some would (and should) feel sympathy that the CC was forced to rule on a joint venture never able to properly distinguish itself. Was it a subscription archive service? Was it an ad-supported archive service? Was it a catch-up service? Was it both but in different windows? Was it free or paid? Would it feature US hit shows or not?

At some point during the 20 months of its short life, Project Kangaroo was one or all of these things. In many respects, it was the brainchild of a confused pre-