Project Canvas Given BBC Trust Approval

The BBC Trust has approved the development of Project Canvas following a regulatory process that started back in February 2009. The project is a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT, Talk Talk and Arqiva to develop and build a standard platform for viewing of internet content (on demand content) via a set top box. This would allow the same box to show content from iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and other on demand systems through the one box / tv.

The trust has concluded that the system would deliver “significant public value” so has approved the development of the system. The BBC has been given the go ahead to continue to be involved in the development of the system, but has imposed some restrictions on what it can and what it can’t do to it, including limiting the financial commitment to no more than 20% over the initial estimates for the project.

Being able to access all platforms through one unified system would be a benefit to the consumer, currently some systems are computer accessible only and some can be viewed via games consoles but there is no uniformed system as yet.

Project Canvas is expected to have the branding YouView when it launches, aims to upgrade both the Freeview and Freesat platforms to add a wide range of video on demand, when it will launch is currently unknown.