SeeSaw saved by Bebo investors
A group of investors led by Criterion Capital Partners, the owner of Bebo, has bought TV catch up aggregator SeeSaw from Arqiva.
SeeSaw closed in May after failing to find a buyer to support it, after just 16 months in operation.
The new deal will see Arqiva retain a 25% stake in the company, while Criterion Media Group, a division of Criterion Capital Partners, will take majority ownership.
Other investors involved in the consortium includes Dan Adler, former VP for Walt Disney Imagineering and founder of the Creative Artists Agency, while former BBC executive Michael Jackson lead as chairman of the company.
Jackson says: “The TV industries in the UK and abroad will continue to be reshaped in ways no one can quite predict, however it is clear that web-delivered programming will play a vital role in that transformation.”
Arqiva CEO John Cresswell said, “SeeSaw – and Project Kangaroo before it – is the product of many years of hard work and innovation from some of the best technical and programming minds in the entertainment industry. We are pleased to retain a sizeable stake in SeeSaw.”
The UK operations will carry on, retaining key staff including platform controller John Keeling, commercial director Matt Rennie and Richard Dines, director of product and technology.
SeeSaw, formerly named Project Kangaroo, is a joint venture set up between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 to aggregate catch up TV content to deliver scale for viewers and advertisers. According to SeeSaw, in May 2011 the site received over 900,000 visitors.
This story first appeared on New Media Age. For more digital stories and analysis’ from NMA click here now
