Advanced Television

Canvas hires staff, sets deadline for partners

March 30, 2010

Project Canvas has set a deadline of April 23rd for taking on any further partners in the venture. Meanwhile the project has hired Anthony Rose as Chief Technology Officer.

Rose is sometimes called the iPlayer guru following his key role in its development as Head of Digital Media Technology at the BBC. Canvas has also taken on Tim Hunt as Director of Marketing from a similar role at Freeview and prior to that at Kangaroo.

Canvas is currently backed by seven partners including the BBC, ITV and BT. “We are keen to finalise the number of interested parties in the venture to ensure we have the most effective project structure to take us through to launch, subject to final BBC Trust conclusions,” said Richard Halton, the director of Project Canvas. “The BBC Trust's interim approval of the proposals in December added real momentum to the project, and the prospect of developing a subscription-free, open internet-connected TV platform has become that much more real,” he said.

However, last week the Office of Fair Trading said it would take submissions as it considers whether there is a case to refer Canvas to the Competition Commission.

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