SeeSaw to close in June

[DB7]

SeeSaw to close in June
Tuesday, May 31st 2011
Online TV venture SeeSaw is set to close next month after its parent company withdrew support for the service.

The platform launched in February 2010 and has attracted millions of viewers but will shut down after just 16 months in operation, the SeeSaw team explained in an official blog post.

"As part of an ongoing strategic review of its business activities Arqiva, our parent company, is no longer able to support the service," the statement read.

It went on to thank all customers for their support, custom and loyalty.

"We hope ... you've had fun watching TV with us," the team added.

More than 3,500 hours of TV programmes can be watched for free using SeeSaw, while the service also offers premium shows that can be rented from 49p.

In includes on-demand content from a wide range of broadcasters, including the BBC, Channel Four and MTV.

Responding to the news, Suranga Chandratillake - chief executive and founder of video search engine Blinkx - claimed SeeSaw's failure was down to its "walled-garden" approach to exclusive content.

Online TV services should instead help users navigate and locate rich video content "effortlessly", he added.

[Freddy]

This has appeared on the Seesaw website

Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated

Back in May, we at SeeSaw Towers were very sad to announce what appeared to be the imminent closure of the site. During the eighteen months we’d been online, we managed to build a loyal audience of almost a million visitors each month, and were steadily growing. Well, asmany of you have noticed, our planned switch-off date has come and gone and we’re still here. Now we are delighted to put out a much more positive message; SeeSaw will officially carry on!For those of you interested in the business side of things, you can read all about who, how,when and why here. As for the rest of you, the upshot is that that SeeSaw has been acquired by a consortium of investors who had a look at SeeSaw’s content, technology and audience and came to the same conclusion as many of you; that the company has an enormous amount of potential, and it was well worth supporting.
Of course, new ownership will mean some short and long-term changes, and we will be working hard to develop and improve the site many of you have come to love. We're still working through a lot of the details (give us a chance), but we’ll keep you posted with any further announcements, and we’d love to get your feedback on what you think we could do better.
All our programmes are currently free to watch but for those of you wondering where our paid programming and services have gone, don't panic! We're just making a few technical updates and will have them back on the site as soon as possible.

Finally, we would like to say thanks to those of you that got in touch to express your support and sympathy. It meant a lot and helped us realise that there had been a point to all the hard work we had been putting in.
Now we could do with your help in spreading the word; SeeSaw is alive and well.
SeeSaw lives. Pass it on.

[CaptainWaggett]

BBC News - SeeSaw video-on-demand television website is shut down

[didi-5]

A real shame - and perhaps indicative of the fact that the appetite for streaming and downloading programmes and films isn't as large as some providers think? I know there is BBCiPlayer and others (and for some reason even YouTube have got in on the act of legitimately offering content) but I can't help thinking the market is already saturated, hence SeeSaw's demise ...

[CaptainWaggett]

I think people like the idea but nobody has yet worked out a charging model that works and with tech-savvy people torrenting, maybe it's too late?

[didi-5]

I think people like the idea but nobody has yet worked out a charging model that works and with tech-savvy people torrenting, maybe it's too late?

I think that because torrents took off first, before the copyright holders got their act together, the momentum has gone for any kind of charging model, and yes, it is probably too late.

[Freddy]

A great shame, I was hoping to escape into 'Kingdom' this weekend, as I noticed the first episode featured a rare appearance of Lynsey de Paul. (she of 'No Honestly')