Canvas venture is truly open, insists BBC

摘要

The BBC this week rejected suggestions that the new proposed governance structure for its Canvas connected-television joint venture with BT, ITV and Five was "window dressing" and achieved little in opening up the project to new partners.rnThe Corporation said that the new structure, which does away with a built-in voting majority for public-service broadcasters, was "entirely non-discriminatory" and would open the door for any interested party to join the venture.rnRichard Halton, the BBC's Canvas director, said that the question that interested parties should be asking about Canvas was not "Do I make it?" but "Do I want to be involved?"rn"We have nothing that is discriminatory in the terms that we've published and by most people in the industry that I've spoken to that's pretty well acknowledged and understood," Halton said.rnThe BBC published the revised governance structure, along with the venture's formal objectives and new projected costs, two weeks ago. The Corporation's governing body, the BBC Trust, has been consulting on the proposals and closed its consultation on Wednesday (November 18).