Virgin flogs BBC Trust, Canvas

The BBC Trust gave a provisional thumbs-up to the Project Canvas hybrid Internet/TV venture late last year, and U.K. market watchers have been expecting final formal approval to come within weeks. However, as that approval nears, cable TV competitor Virgin Media is intensifying its opposition to Canvas, a joint effort of the BBC, ITV, telco giant BT and other firms.

Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett said at a cable TV industry event in Brussels, Belgium today that Canvas could "distort" the market by forcing its own platform and interface on the market rather than working toward a more open, standards-based approach. He lambasted the BBC Trust, questioning the body's ability to provide "sufficiently rigorous and transparent scrutiny" of the BBC and Canvas' potential market impact, according to a story at MediaWeek.

For more:
- MediaWeek has this report

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