More hurdles appear ahead for Project Kangaroo: the BBCWW-ITV-Channel 4 online video JV has come under heavy criticism from the Broadband Stakeholder Group, the UK Government’s advisory group on internet matters. Its chairman Kip Meek said yesterday (via FT.com): “Imagine a commercial version of the BBC’s iPlayer. Let’s give it a code name – say, Kangaroo. Imagine underlying demand for it is fantastically high, requiring BT (NYSE: BT) and ISPs to invest heavily to maintain service levels. In this environment, Kangaroo would have benefited from next generation access but borne none of the risk.” He said it was difficult to judge whether the risk allocation issues for ISPs would be resolved soon. This stinging criticism comes a week after Kangaroo’s chief executive Ashley Highfield abruptly left to join Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), leaving something of a power vacuum for the project as it awaits the outcome of a Competition Commission ruling. But Kangaroo has hit back. A spokesman for the project told FT.com: “The creation of any on-demand content platform carries its own investment risks and the truth is great content is helping ISPs build their businesses. Everyone has a role to play and for content providers it is to create interesting content and services which, in Project Kangaroo’s case, will be overwhelmingly free.”

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