Orange Emerges As Potential Kangaroo Buyer

Kangaroo, the doomed video on demand project pioneered by ITV, Channel 4 and BBC, could be purchased outright by none other than mobile service provider Orange.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the partners in the failed joint venture have invested an estimated £20 million behind the technology which is now said to be worth only a fraction of that.

The Competition Commission blocked the project back in February over fears that it might hamper the development of broadband TV in the UK market - something that Kangaroo backers vehemently denied.

France Telecom, rather than Orange, is interested in purchasing the assets of Kangaroo. The parent company of Orange is present in a number of countries where the technology could be useful as it looks to deploy triple play services.

Orange TV has already been launched in Europe, the Middle East and as far as in Africa. A France Telecom spokesperson has confirmed that they are examining the project but that, at this stage, FT wouldn't confirm whether anything had been decided.

The telecommunications giant has refrained from introducing a TV service in the UK due to adverse economic conditions although it has been mulling plans to do so as early as June 2006.

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