SeeSaw - the UK online video service which went live in February last year - has been shuttered, evidently because of the fact that it failed to offer any substantial competition to the bigger players in the online video market.

The television streaming service SeeSaw was based on the technology that media services company Arqiva developed for the doomed Project Kangaroo initiative; and it chiefly offered content from BBC Worldwide, Channel 4, Channel Five and some other production companies.

The content that the video-on-demand TV website offered included a wide array of `free-to-watch' shows which were essentially supported by advertising. While the service allowed the turning off of the advertisements for an optional charge; it also offered some premium `pay-to-watch' programmes.

However, a majority stake in the business was taken by a Criterion Capital Partners-led group of investors led by in July; and in the final days of the SeeSaw service, Channel 4 and Five withdrew from it. As such, the service was mostly restricted to archive content from the BBC ever since.

Of late, SeeSaw had been witnessing troubles galore, especially because of the departure of its top-notch executives who left the company after the critical investments that new owners had assured did not come through.

With lack of funds leading to the shuttering of the service, SeeSaw announced the shut down with this brief statement posted on its website: "Thanks for your support but SeeSaw is no longer available."