James Murdoch: BBC iPlayer Inhibits Competition

LONDON, April 25: James
Murdoch, who was elevated to chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia at News
Corporation in December, has said that the BBC is inhibiting competition in the
British broadband market with its iPlayer service.

Murdoch made the comments
during a Q&A session following a speech at the Marketing Society in London
yesterday, the Guardian reports.
Murdoch said that the BBC’s free on-demand catch-up service, launched last
July, was a "big step, a pre-emptive intervention in a marketplace
otherwise hugely competitive and moving very fast.” He accused the service of
having “hoovered up” resources and "squashed other competitors.”

He added: “I'm not saying
it is a bad product, but I am saying it does crowd out competition and
innovation…It is less about the iPlayer and more the process that leads to its
birth.”

The Guardian quoted a BBC Trust spokeswoman as saying:
"The BBC Trust subjected the BBC iPlayer to a rigorous public value test
that included a market impact assessment carried out by Ofcom. The trust
imposed a number of conditions on the iPlayer to take account of market impact
issues, consultation responses from the industry, and responses from over
10,000 license fee payers before final approval was given."

—By Mansha Daswani