Yahoo7 cancels Webcast of Irwin memorial

Yahoo7 cancelled plans for a live stream of today's memorial service for Steve Irwin at the eleventh hour following an inability to secure "the necessary clearance and approvals required for an online broadcast".

A statement on Monday outlined live coverage of both Irwin and Peter Brock's memorial services on the Web, with Yahoo7 head of news and sport, David McGrath, saying: "it seems people want their own opportunity to share in the memorial services for Peter Brock and Steve Irwin, and say goodbye, even if they can't be there in person. We're using our partnership with Channel 7 to stream the service online over a reliable platform that will allow millions of Australians to watch as we remember the great things these men achieved".

But the live stream of the Irwin memorial service did not go ahead. Yahoo7's news page, where the broadcast was to have featured, had numerous articles on Irwin, a message board for tributes and a Channel 7 news clip, but the Webcast was conspicuously absent.

Yahoo7 spokesperson Stephen Rodi told this writer things didn't go ahead as planned because "the event producers weren't able to obtain the necessary clearance and approvals required for an online broadcast". He also confirmed such approval would have had to come from the Irwin family.

Yahoo7 will be making clips from the memorial service available today in its news videos section.