OFT to examine BSkyB Canvas16 Draft: 15 22/03/2010, Mark Sweney, BBC, business, digital media, guardian.co.uk, media, business media, news, online TV,

OFT to examine BSkyB Canvas16 Draft: 15 22/03/2010, Mark Sweney, BBC, business, digital media, guardian.co.uk, media, business media, news, online TV, the political fabric of the project, the television industry, UK News, Guardian Unlimited

Critics of the company's joint VoD BBC, BT, TalkTalk and ITV may submit concerns to the competition authorities


The Office of Fair Trading is examining the project canvas, video on demand services backed by the BBC and others, giving critics as BSkyB and Virgin Media the opportunity to present their concerns to the competition authorities for the first time .


Canvas Project, the joint venture to bring digital content to viewers VoD DTT and Freesat which has supporters, including the BBC, BT, TalkTalk and ITV, has been tightly controlled by the BBC Trust, but has not been examined by a wide regulatory body.


Critics of the project canvas, including Sky and Virgin Media, will be pleased to have the opportunity to air their grievances to officials, having argued that the regulator of the media, Ofcom, should have conducted an impact assessment in the market the proposed service.


According to a source involved with the project canvas, made a presentation to the OFT at the end of last week. The OFT, which is expected to launch a consultation seeking views on the Draft canvas industry this week, now seek to establish if the company reaches that threshold is known as "fusion" - also known as a test of competition.


The consultation is expected to last several weeks. The OFT well clear of the project will reach the threshold table a formal competition inquiry, asking members for any recourse to address concerns, or refer the business to the Competition Commission.


To qualify for a research project to predict the OFT canvas in the UK turnover must be £ 70 million annually, or be over 25% of a nascent market UK video on demand as defined by the regulator .


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