Great news if you have been a beta tester or following the new catch up tv service SeeSaw, it goes live on Wenesday 17th February with over 3000 hours of streams available.

The website which is owned by the transmission company Arqiva, has been tested by 20000 users during the trial stage for the last month, and has partnered with the BBC Worldwide, Channel 4, Five andmany other UK production companies so far. However there is still no content from ITV because they (ITV) have halted all negotiations for the next 10 weeks while there is a strategic review initiated by new chairman, Archie Norman.

SeeSaw is targeting the growing market of  ‘catch-up tv’viewers wanting to view missed and back catalogue tv shows and movies on the internet. Seesaw Chief exec. Pierre-Jean Sebert said:- “We estimate that there are two and half million people in the UK regularly watching TV via video on demand services such as the BBC iPlayer. We are initially targeting this group via an online advertising campaign and then moving our marketing efforts onto TV in order to capture the 13 million people who have used both linear and web TV services – but are still more reliant upon the big screen.”

Although viewers can watch tv direct from each networks website right now, there is still not a ‘one stop shop’ for watching tv online. Although the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, had planned to create a joint video venture – known as Project Kangaroo, this was killed by the Competition Commission last year. SeeSaw has been created from the technology developed after it paid around £8m last July to purchase Project Kangaroo’s technology.

Mr Sebert believes that there is enough room in the market for more than just the network as a tv aggregator supplying internet TV catch up services. SeeSaw will take a cut of advertising revenue each time a stream is viewed from its site, although the amount they will make has not been disclosed.  They also plan to make money from premium content. “We plan on introducing some paid-for services in the coming months which will give the company a dual revenue stream,” said Mr Sebert, who confirmed that SeeSaw was in talks with the US Studios about certain TV shows.

SeeSaw also hope to be included in the forthcoming Project Canvas– the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT and TalkTalk backed proposal to deliver internet television to the big screen. This project is still awaiting approval from the BBC Trust but is expected to be approved.

Related posts:

1. New TV Website SeeSaw Starts Trials
2. SeeSaw Getting Serious With A Massive Advertising Campaign
3. SeeSaw Offer Rental Online TV Service
4. Seesaw Launches Free But Is Looking Into Pay Options
5. AT&T Launch Catch Up TV Website