IP Vision has become the second firm in as many weeks to claim the BBC-backed Project Canvas scheme will damage the IPTV market in the UK.
In an official complaint lodged with regulator Ofcom, the IPTV firm said the project would hinder competition in the market by allowing the companies backing the scheme to dominate the sector.
Chief executive Eddie Abrams went so far as to call Project Canvas’ six backers a “group of industry Goliaths,” WSJ.com reported.
He believes the scheme would remove the element of competition between the telcos and broadcasters supporting it, which will distort the market and ultimately restrict competition, the paper said.
Project Canvas partners - the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, BT, Arqiva and TalkTalk – aim to create a common platform for on-demand IPTV, and plan to launch the scheme in 2011.
Virgin Media lodged a 74-page complaint about the project a fortnight ago, claiming it will destroy the UK’s IPTV market, while rival BSkyB is mulling a formal objection, WSJ said.
Ofcom has two months to decide if it will investigate the complaints the Daily Telegraph reported.