Seesaw announces it will be shutting up shop

VIDEO STREAMING OUTFIT Seesaw will shut up shop by the end of June as it failed to find an investor.

Seesaw took programmes from broadcasters such as the BBC and Channel 4 and repackaged them on its web site, allowing users to view content that might not have been available on BBC's Iplayer or Channel 4's 4OD service. Its parent company, Arqiva, had been trying to find an investor or someone to buy the firm, but today Arquiva withdrew its support for Seesaw leaving the outfit in the lurch.

The Seesaw team put up a short message notifying its users of the fact that it won't be around for much longer, saying, "As it will soon be 'goodbye' from Seesaw, we'd like to take this opportunity to say a big 'thanks' for all your support, custom and loyalty over the last 16 months. We're a small team but we hope we've made a big difference and that you've had fun watching TV with us."

Seesaw's demise on the back of being unable to acquire funding shows that even in these heady days of baseless company valuations, the world hasn't gone completely loopy. Although Seesaw was a useful service, it's hard to figure out how it could make enough money to support itself from peddling second-hand content.

Given the hosting costs associated with video streaming and the fact that users are not very keen to 'rent' video series, perhaps Seesaw's demise should serve as a warning to other firms to get their revenue generation models sorted before pitching venture capital investors. µ