British for ‘Hulu’: ‘Kangaroo’

Three of the UK’s biggest broadcasters, BBC, C4 and ITV, are banding together to create an online on demand entertainment service. The joint service, which has been given the working title “Kangaroo,” will offer more than ten thousand hours of the three broadcasters’ current and past programming. Think of it as the UK’s answer to Hulu. If only the U.S. TV networks would play so nice with each other.

Each of the three companies will take an equal share in the new venture, and will aggregate content from the respective sites as well as open up to third-party content. The service will initially be online only, with delivery to other platforms to follow.

Audiences will be able to catch up on recent programming they missed or watch archived shows via download and streaming, and content will be available through a mix of free, rental and purchase options.

Kangaroo is looking to launch in 2008.