Web TV gets up off the Canvas

Friday 25 June

Web TV gets up off the Canvas

You may remember Project Canvas – you know, that clever idea from the UK’s terrestrial TV channels to team up on a broad internet TV standard that can be used by all. The idea was first mooted more than 18 months ago, but with the approval of the BBC Trust a requirement for any project involving the public broadcaster, it’s been a long time since any real progress has been made.

Until today, that is. For just when we were all starting to forget what the whole thing was actually about, Aunty Beeb’s minders have come to the sensible conclusion that it might be a good idea to get a move on before everyone else beats it to the punch, and have finally given the project the green light.

Likely to be called YouView when it appears next year, the standard will allow a range of web TV-enabled set-top boxes to deliver added-value on-demand content from the likes of BBC iPlayer and ITVplayer straight to viewers’ TV screens.

It’s not a done deal quite yet, however. Aside from the fact that plenty of work still needs to be done, there’s also the near certainty that the likes of Sky and Virgin Media will be looking at ways of stopping the idea from getting off the ground.