Orange Says No to Kangaroo

Author	Hugo Jobling
Published	21st May 2009

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Those hoping Kangaroo might yet see the light of day may be disappointed to hear it won't beat the hands of Orange. The company has decided against buying the technology behind Kangaroo, developed by BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4, saying that: "After in-depth due diligence, we concluded that it was unlikely that an outcome which benefited France Telecom's Orange operations would be met."

The word on the street is that Orange was put of by the high price being asked for the video-on-demand infrastructure developed with the intention of powering Kangaroo. The three broadcasters behind the development of Kangaroo's back-end have effectively lost some £20 million thanks to the Competition Commission ruling against the service, so it's hardly surprising they would want to recoup some of that cash.

Orange will presumably be pursuing other avenues of extending its IPTV platform in Europe. Any plans Orange had to enter the UK market are likely to be put on hold for now, too.

It's not all doom and gloom for Kangaroo, though. One other potential buyer is apparently interested, still.

Link:
Orange.