Report: Orange Eyes Project Kangaroo Technology

LONDON: France Telecom’s Orange service is said to be considering the acquisition of the technology behind Project Kangaroo, the VOD venture from ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC that was nixed by British competition authorities.

ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC reportedly invested £20 million in the technology for the now-defunct broadband TV venture, which was blocked earlier this year by the U.K.’s Competition Commission. The partners now hope to recoup at least a part of that investment by selling off Project Kangaroo assets.

"We are examining this company and we see of course that it could be interesting," a spokesman for France Telecom told MediaGuardian. "Nothing has been decided but we can confirm we are examining it."

The technology would be used to expand Orange’s own pay-TV service, which has more than 1 million subscribers in France.