Brief hiatus
Troubled Channel Five was withdrawn from the BBC-backed IPTV standards venture - Project Canvas - by its previous owners, RTL. But they sold the channel to Richard Desmond, whose company - Northern and Shell - also owns the Star and the Express newspapers and OK! magazine, late last month.
Desmond, who also owns some adult TV channels via his Portland TV subsidiary, has clearly decided that RTL's decision was a mistake, and has wasted little time in getting Five back on board.
"Project Canvas is set to shape the future of broadcasting and open up new and exciting possibilities for viewers," said Desmond.
"This is important to the future of Channel Five and having an open internet-connected TV platform fits closely with our plans to bring brilliant new content and interactive services to viewers. We're delighted to renew Channel Five's commitment to supporting Project Canvas following a review of our digital strategy."
Richard Halton, Director of Project Canvas, said: "Channel Five has already made a major contribution to Project Canvas and we're delighted to have them back on board. This is great recognition of how important Canvas is to the future of television."
