Rachel_Sandford
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The UK online video-on-demand service, SeeSaw, shut down for good. On Friday, a notice went up on the company website. It read: “Thanks for your support but SeeSaw is no longer available.”
SeeSaw started when Arqiva bought and developed Project Kangaroo, the BBC-ITV-Channel 4 venture that launched in February 2010. It was broken up by the Competition Commission, but the broadcasters later created Project Canvas which eventually turned into YouView.
Under Arqiva, the site was online for less than two years. It offered free catch-up content, pay-to-view material, and it also let users pay to turn off ads. Generally a good service, it faced two major problems. First it never found deals with Smart TV vendors or set-top box makers, only managing a test on the Boxee internet TV device. Second, it lacked content. Broadcasters left the service one after the other. As a result, it was killed by the bigger online video-on-demand services.
Head of Internet at Enders Analysis, Ian Maude said: “In the end they didn't have the backing they needed to make it—the kind of content that drives significant levels of usage. They were in a very competitive market. ITV wouldn't supply them content, and Channel 4 only did for a while. With competition from Google's YouTube they just didn't have a chance.”
In January of this year, Arqiva announced that it would be reviewing SeeSaw's operations and that they would be putting the company up for sale. Having found no buyers, they decided to close down the site by June 20, 2011, but in July, 75% of its stake was sold to group of investors led by Criterion Capital Partners, who back then had recently bought Bebo.
Some had hoped that things would get better for the site, but the new chairman, Michael Jackson, a former BBC and Channl 4 executive, soon left the company. His leaving led to a further decrease in content and eventually the closing of the company.
In a statement to BBC, the company said: “Having completed the sale of SeeSaw in July, Arqiva is very disappointed by the failure of the new investors to provide their committed funding. Without the funding the service had to close.”
Perhaps the closing of SeeSaw is better in the long run. With more on-demand TV and film players entering the UK market next year, the catch-up service couldn't have competed for much longer.
SeeSaw started when Arqiva bought and developed Project Kangaroo, the BBC-ITV-Channel 4 venture that launched in February 2010. It was broken up by the Competition Commission, but the broadcasters later created Project Canvas which eventually turned into YouView.
Under Arqiva, the site was online for less than two years. It offered free catch-up content, pay-to-view material, and it also let users pay to turn off ads. Generally a good service, it faced two major problems. First it never found deals with Smart TV vendors or set-top box makers, only managing a test on the Boxee internet TV device. Second, it lacked content. Broadcasters left the service one after the other. As a result, it was killed by the bigger online video-on-demand services.
Head of Internet at Enders Analysis, Ian Maude said: “In the end they didn't have the backing they needed to make it—the kind of content that drives significant levels of usage. They were in a very competitive market. ITV wouldn't supply them content, and Channel 4 only did for a while. With competition from Google's YouTube they just didn't have a chance.”
In January of this year, Arqiva announced that it would be reviewing SeeSaw's operations and that they would be putting the company up for sale. Having found no buyers, they decided to close down the site by June 20, 2011, but in July, 75% of its stake was sold to group of investors led by Criterion Capital Partners, who back then had recently bought Bebo.
Some had hoped that things would get better for the site, but the new chairman, Michael Jackson, a former BBC and Channl 4 executive, soon left the company. His leaving led to a further decrease in content and eventually the closing of the company.
In a statement to BBC, the company said: “Having completed the sale of SeeSaw in July, Arqiva is very disappointed by the failure of the new investors to provide their committed funding. Without the funding the service had to close.”
Perhaps the closing of SeeSaw is better in the long run. With more on-demand TV and film players entering the UK market next year, the catch-up service couldn't have competed for much longer.
