BBC, ITV & Ch. 4 ask for more time to prove 'Kangaroo' is above board.

British broadcasters and project 'Kangaroo' bed-buddies: the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4, have been told by the commission in charge of their fair-competition inquiry that they have more time to get their facts straight.

The Competition Commission's inquiry was due to begin on the 6th August, but like three lazy students, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have all begged for more time to prepare their case. And like a kindly avuncular professor, the Competition Commission has agreed to postpone the much anticipated inquest date until early September when it is hoped that all three big boys will have got their act in gear and gathered the relevant information they need to argue their case properly.

Opinion: BBC Internet 'guru' Ashley Highfield wasn't spectacular, all he did was give cyberspace a 'play' button

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Jonathan Weinberg writes…

It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have much money. The best innovators often produce the most fantastic efforts when they’re doing it on a shoe-string. Look at Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, he didn’t have millions of pounds when he started it, he simply had passion, drive and a simple idea for something he believed would work.

So the news today that the BBC’s New Media boss is to stand down and move to launch an on-demand video service for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 strikes me as interesting. Ashley Highfield has been feted as one of the most important people on the Internet. But he controls a budget of £74m a year. Surely even a chimp in a tutu could do some decent work with that kind of cash to fund it.

The plan is that “Project Kangaroo” (dumb name for a start) will become the Freeview of the Internet offering more than 10,000 hours of programmes. Now I’ve nothing against that, I love TV. In fact, I’m an addict as my friends will tell you judging by my preference to stay in and watch rubbish on the box rather than going out with them.

Opinion: Why we should all smile as stars of CCTV

Jon_small_new.jpgYep, you’re right, that is an album by Hard-Fi but it’s a serious point, because a funny thing happened to me today – I went to the dentist! Nothing particular humorous in that, no you are right, but seriously I am telling the tooth! Ok, enough with the bad jokes already.

As I sat in the dentist chair, he said there was something he wanted to show me and quickly thrust it towards my mouth. I was a bit shocked but suddenly it all became clear – he’s had a techno-makeover in the surgery. And boy, what an exciting 10 minutes it was…