OFT approves Project Canvas

Bad news continues to flow in. This time the OFT have approved Project Canvas.

This would appear to be a setback to the development of an open source standard for streaming video. Exactly why a new standard is needed when there already exist protocols for IPTV is unclear to us.

However it may be that the existence of this project actually encourages the development of video on demand. What is unclear at present is whether we will be able to access the IPTV functions without having a set top box that needs a licence. We suspect that the BBC will be aiming for a system that requires users to have a TV Licence, if they have any sense that is.