Kangaroo is offering to abandon its hoped-for exclusivity on VOD shows, agreeing to sell shows to rival platforms via wholesale as it tries to limbo under the Competition Commission’s low bar. If that doesn’t satisfy the commission, Kangaroo’s prepared to go further with an alternative proposal, saying it will also operate “three separate retail points that compete with each other”. So much for the “one-stop shop”.

In this response to the competition’s proposed remedies, BBC Worldwide, ITV (LSE: ITV) and C4 say two of the proposed solutions - giving access to rivals and reverting content rights to producers - “would not effectively address the substantial lessening of competition” the commission judged last month. If those remedies were imposed, Kangaroo would pack up and bounce away: “The parties do not consider that entering into the JV would be commercially viable if either of those remedies were adopted and would not proceed with the JV in such circumstances.”

So Kangaroo has agreed to offer shows to other platforms via wholesale - a move designed to placate the likes of Joost, which has been trying to acquire BBC content. But Kangaroo would prefer to limit that pledge only to the seven-day catch-up content currently offered by iPlayer, ITV.com and 4oD, and not its archive shows, arguing “platforms that have access to the parties’ catch-up content would be in a strong position to attract users” while ITV and C4 themselves would gain new viewers, too

In my view, this offers the commission little as the BBC, at least, had always intended to syndicate its iPlayer shows out to rivals (see its Telegraph.co.uk deal, for example). So, in its alternative proposal, Kangaroo will also concede exclusivity on its long-tail shows.

So it’s now becoming clear that, if the commission picks one of two from its four proposed solutions, Kangaroo will wind itself up. If Kangaroo does launch, it will be by offering rivals more of its shows and by continuing to operate in part as three, not one.

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