Trust gives a go ahead to Canvas

It is good news that the BBC trust has given permission for Project Canvas to go ahead finally.

The project offers free-to-air broadcasts and internet content on television and is a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, BT Group, Five, Channel 4 and Carphone Warehouse.

Its end product will be a range of set-top boxes made available to access-on-demand TV services such as the iPlayer and ITVPlayer which will give users access to internet services such as Facebook, YouTube and Flickr via their televisions.

The trust gave its provisional backing despite the objections of rival BSkyB, which says the BBC's involvement would distort the market.