SeeSaw demise opens UK VoD opportunity

The UK’s video-on-demand market has been left wide open following the final collapse of SeeSaw.

US-based Criterion Capital Partners had pledged to save the ailing venture after parent Arqiva called time on it earlier this year, but the site closed down on Friday.

“Thanks for your support but SeeSaw is no longer available,” reads a message on SeeSaw.tv.

Arqiva, a broadcast transmission specialist, blamed Criterion – which bought out social network Bebo last year – for not coming up with the cash it had promised.

“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 that funding the service had to close,” Arqiva said in a statement.

As late as last Thursday, SeeSaw was still live but only offering content from BBC Worldwide (BBCWW), after content deals with fellow UK broadcasters Channel 4 and Channel 5 expired.

The closure of SeeSaw marks the final death knell for a service that started life as a joint-venture between BBCWW, ITV and C4. Project Kangaroo was conceived as an online aggregator of the best of UK content but fell foul of competition laws. The assets were then sold on to Arqiva, which had high hopes for SeeSaw as its first online, consumer-facing business.

But the venture struggled to gain traction and maintain its broadcaster support. ITV refused to join while it explored a possible joint-venture with Hulu, and C4 concurrently signed a landmark distribution deal with YouTube.

When ITV abandoned talks with Hulu, the US video site’s hopes of entering the UK were crushed, and SeeSaw’s demise now leaves the way open for other independent VoD aggregators to lead the way.

Competition in the territory is heating up, however, with Netflix having last week confirmed its arrival early next year, taking on Amazon’s LoveFilm and Tesco’s BlinkBox.

Another new entrant called Vdio has signaled its intent to use the UK as its launch pad. It comes from the former founders of Joost – another online video venture with history almost as tortured at that of SeeSaw.