SeeSaw bought by Bebo owner

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A consortium led by Criterion, the US merchant bank that owns Bebo, is buying SeeSaw, the online video-on-demand service that evolved from Project Kangaroo.

Michael Jackson, the former chief executive of Channel 4 and controller of BBC One and Two, was named as the company's chairman yesterday.

The current owner, the transmission company Arqiva, will retain a 25 per cent stake.

Project Kangaroo was developed by the BBC Worldwide, Channel Four and ITV as a one-stop site for catch-up TV from their channels. But the Competition Commission blocked the project in 2009, fearing it would be too much of a threat to competition in the developing video-on-demand market.

Its assets were bought by the transmission company Arqiva, which launched an on-demand service offering BBC, Channel 4 and Five programmes last year.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed yesterday but it is believed to be worth £10m.