Kangaroo is offering to abandon its hoped-for exclusivity on VOD shows, agreeing to sell shows to rival platforms via wholesale as it tries to limbo under the Competition Commission’s low bar. If that doesn’t satisfy the commission, Kangaroo’s prepared to go further with an alternative proposal, saying it will also operate “three separate retail points that compete with each other”. So much for the “one-stop shop”.
In this response to the competition’s proposed remedies, BBC Worldwide, ITV (LSE: ITV) and C4 say two of the proposed solutions – giving access to rivals and reverting content rights to producers – “would not effectively address the substantial lessening of competition” the commission judged last month. If those remedies were imposed, Kangaroo would pack up and bounce away: “The parties do not consider that entering into the JV would be commercially viable if either of those remedies were adopted and would not proceed with the JV in such circumstances.”
So Kangaroo has agreed to offer shows to other platforms via wholesale – a move designed to placate the likes of Joost, which has been trying to acquire BBC content. But Kangaroo would prefer to limit that pledge only to the seven-day catch-up content currently offered by iPlayer, ITV.com and 4oD, and not its archive shows, arguing “platforms that have access to the parties