For Broadcast May 12, 2008

You may be forgiven if you haven't heard of Jalipo. The niche content aggregator was officially set up in the UK two years ago. It raised and spent a few million pounds and was sold this week in an all-share deal worth $16.8m to US-based ROK Entertainment Group.

Jalipo's unique selling point is its bespoke pre-pay credit system, in which users pay for a voucher online that allow them to watch Jalipo-enabled content on a variety of sites. The problem has been getting the content makers that matter on board.

This has a familiar ring to it. Joost and Babelgum, both online content aggregators with higher profiles, have struggled to get big name content providers at a time when the business model for online video is still developing.

Jalipo started with a pay content approach but has recently started targeting "lower value" content that websites can monetise with advertising. The problem is competition, both from broadcasters themselves such as BBC iPlayer and, soon, the multi-broadcaster Kangaroo, as well as bigger players such as Google's YouTube. Will there be more consolidation among online aggregators? The simple answer is yes.