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BBC reveals Canvas costs The BBC's Project Canvas IPTV open standard will cost £115.6m (US$191m) to run over a four-year period and considerably more to the UK pubcaster than previous estimates suggested should only four partners be involved. The figures were published today as part of the BBC executive's latest submission to governing body the BBC Trust, which rejected the initial proposal in June due to a lack of clarity.  The BBC's original submission put the cost of Canvas to the BBC at £16.6m, based on four partners being involved, but this projection has now been revised to £24.7m. The BBC hopes, however, to have at least six partners in place, a move that would reduce the cost to the BBC to £16.4m.In total, in the time it has taken to develop the proposal and in the first four years of Canvas being in operation (should the BBC Trust give it the go-ahead), the total cost to all parties would be £115.6m. A total of £17m would be recouped from listings, service integration and licensing of the Canvas brand, for example, to ISPs that wish to publicise the tariffs that meet the Canvas minimum quality standard, the BBC said. Other projected revenues have not been made public. The corporation said today that it had already invested £715,140 in work to develop Canvas between July 2008 and August this year, in addition to ongoing research and development work. This is despite the fact that the Trust could yet kick the proposal into touch. Among other revisions and clarifications is the BBC's pledge to establish Canvas under a different governance structure than that previously put forward, with the public service broadcasters involved on an equal footing with internet service providers and others who may join the consortium. At present, ITV, Five and telecoms company BT have all expressed their enthusiasm for being Canvas stakeholders. The BBC is hoping to bring others on board and has also clarified the terms under which new signatories could join. The Trust is giving interested parties up until November 18 to respond to the latest information and is aiming to make a provisional decision on whether to give Canvas the go-ahead by year-end. There will be a further period of consultation on these preliminary findings before a final decision is made – something that looks unlikely to happen before the new year. To view the BBC’s latest Project Canvas documentation in full, click here. Erik Huggers, BBC director of Future Media and Technology, who is overseeing Project Canvas, will be among the speakers at C21's FutureMedia conference at BAFTA in London on November 13. To find out more and book your ticket to the event, click here. Jonathan Webdale 4 Nov 2009 © C21 Media 2009 
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