Ashley Highfield made CEO of Kangaroo

BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 have appointed Ashley Highfield, currently the BBC's director of future media and technology, as chief executive of their joint video on demand project.

The commercial catch-up TV service, which has the working title Kangaroo, will bring together shows from all three broadcasters, and is expected to launch later this year.

Highfield will manage roll-out, negotiations with third-party content owners and future distribution on other platforms, the partners said in a statement today.

His most high-profile work to date has been on the BBC's iPlayer service. Despite a long and difficult development period the iPlayer has proved a success, with more than 42m programme views since its formal launch at Christmas.

"This is a fantastic opportunity," said Highfield. "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."

BBC Worldwide chief executive John Smith added: "I'm delighted we've appointed Ashley as the CEO of Kangaroo. His knowledge in the digital media field is world class and he'll bring tremendous strategic and operational expertise to successfully take the venture forward."

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade said Kangaroo would be "an important shop window for UK broadcaster content" while Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive, noted on demand video was "already growing at a lightning rate".

Kangaroo is expected to make shows availably only once they have passed a seven-day "catch-up window" on each broadcaster's individual on demand service.

Highfield is tipped to be succeeded by Erik Huggers, a former Microsoft executive who joined the BBC as controller for future media and technology in May.