Ashley Highfield, BBC future media and technology director, and the man who has made the BBC iPlayer so successful in such a short space of time, has quit to become CEO of the Kangaroo project instead.

The Kangaroo project, first announced last November, is a joint collaboration between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to build an online TV platform for the UK similar to the US only Hulu.

iPlayer Massively Successful

The fact that Highfield will be overseeing its development and launch should be a positive sign, because the iPlayer has gained a massive amount of viewers since its relaunch at Christmas.

Highfield said of the move:

“This is a fantastic opportunity. Kangaroo is a historic partnership with a combination of innovative technology and terrific content and I’m looking forward to transforming the way audiences watch television.”

Third Party Content On Kangaroo

Whether Kangaroo succeeds is all down to whether enough high profile third parties sign up to be a part of the service, and persuading them to do so will form a major part of Highfield’s job.

It looks like future media and technology controller Erik Huggers will take over Highfield’s old job, despite being in his current post for only 11 months.

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