SeeSaw on brink
September 15, 2011
SeeSaw, the UK VoD service, has yet to receive the investment promised as part of its spin-off to Criterion Partners from Arqiva – and platform controller John Keeling, commercial director Matt Rennie and product director Richard Dines all quit yesterday.
Criterion acquired a majority of SeeSaw from Arqiva this summer, but investment promised by Weston Capital Management to capitalise the site has still not materialised.
With the departure of C4 and FIve, SeeSaw now has only old archive shows from BBC Worldwide and some
independent producers. Chairman-designate Michael Jackson, a former BBC One controller, will not now be taking up that post, which was conditional on SeeSaw receiving its new money.
Criterion wants SeeSaw to behave more like a technology-centric startup and wants to cut costs. SeeSaw has been unprofitable.
The technology behind SeeSaw, was developed by Ioko, for the Kangaroo BBC led venture.