ITV has announced that it will be rebranding its video on demand service ITV Player – as it looks to increase its online presence.
The Catch Up TV service on ITV.com will have a shiny new logo, and ITV are launching a major TV advertising campaign to promote its service.
Just to confuse matters, ITV will refer to the service as ITV Net Player and referred to as ITV Network Player in branding and communications 'intended for consumption across the entire UK'.
They've rebadged it, you fool
Ben McOwen Wilson, Director of Online at ITV, said: "The new logo is part of our aim to create a recognisable and consistent brand for video on demand content across the web and TV.
"It is part of our overall ambition to make our content as widely available for audiences through whichever platform suits them best.
"With the massive growth of on-demand content across our online sites during 2008 it is more important than ever to create a brand that consumers recognise and associate with our content on which ever platform they are enjoying it."
Kangaroo
The announcement comes in the same week as Sky unveiled its Sky Player TV subscription for all service and another online ITV project – Project Kangaroo, which it was hoping to launch with BBC and Channel 4 – was criticised by the Competitions Commission.
The ITV.com service is beginning to show its age in comparison with the BBC's polished iPlayer and the prospect of a much bigger potential audience for Sky's VOD service has ramped up competition in the sector.
Project Kangaroo was intended to be a major collaborative project to create a platform for all Britain's major terrestrial broadcasters, apart from Five, but the current format has been adjudged to be likely to restrict competition.
However, a recent deal with BT to show ITV content on its catch-up service has indicated the broadcaster's move into new areas.
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Your comments (2) Click to add a new comment
sanderton
December 5th 2008
2. I've just signed up for Sky's no-disk Sky Sports. Seems OK so far. I think IP TV is the future one way or another.
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tech89
December 5th 2008
1. ITV's web service is terrible compared to BBC's iplayer (which i would rank as 'works the best') and Demand Five (which is pretty damn good, loads fast, excellent quality), and channel four (is fair play). ITV's videos are alos of low quality, contain half a dozen adverts for a half hour programme, and buffering times can be quick or take forever. If there was to be any collaborative effort for a obline tv service (Kangaroo) then i sure hope that ITV stays well clear of the technical decisions, as ITV clearly does not have the best interests of its viewers. I hope one day that BBC might put live tv service on their website (one day maybe...).
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