The man tasked with bringing to life Arqiva’s forthcoming VOD aggregation platform thinks the market for “deep archive” TV content will see an explosion in the next six months.
But, while the project is looking to add content partners to its embryonic service, platform controller John Keeling saus that Sky and Virgin Media’s user interfaces are “Neanderthal” in appearance compared to the latest on-screen VOD technology.
Keeling, who joined the broadcast transmission company two weeks ago, told a Westminster eForum on Tuesday morning that both companies’ on-screen interfaces, “astonishingly, feel Neanderthal when you look at what else is out there”. By comparison, he was impressed by iPlayer’s Playstation 3 interface.
His point wasn’t to knock potential partners, but to illustrate that it’s “content that will drive the growth of VOD”.
Keeling was, for six years, controller and COO of UKTV, which he describes as a “great aggregator of content”. But the broadcaster has been frustrated by the lack of an on-demand model for its content. “The model is now here,” he said. “We’re beginning to see a combination of advertising-funded content and paid content in the marketplace with the aggregator in the middle and the mobile, TV or PC as the end product.”
But where Arqiva comes in is what Keeling calls “deep archive”, where UK and US broadcasters put large amounts of old and recent content online — the same area its predecessor Kangaroo had hoped to win success. “The demand for STBs, Canvas and Arqiva is going to be driven by content and the advent of deep archive… over the next six to nine months you will see an explosion in the content,” he said. Still no official word on whether Arqiva’s project itself will be part of the BBC’s Canvas IPTV open platform.
paidContent:UK understands that the service is currently in its consumer testing phase and that an announcement on when it will launch a public beta will be made in the next three to four weeks.

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