Tag: iPlayer
BBC Trust blocks plans for iPlayer sharing
According to Paid Content, the BBC Trust is blocking plans for sharing the iPlayer.
In a September 29 proposal that wasn’t made public, BBC executives said it wanted to create a company to license the VOD (Video on Demand) service to public sector companies. But the BBC Trust – the Beeb’s regualator which is supposed to look after the interests of the licence payer – is blocking the proposal.
The report concluded “that the open iPlayer plans in their proposed form, combining both commercial and public service elements, were too complicated. We were not convinced that there was enough potential value to licence fee payers in the public service part of the proposal, and we have therefore rejected the BBC executive’s proposals for an open iPlayer federation.
The BBC first proposed sharing the iPlayer in December 2008. In its wide-ranging Digital Britain consultation submission it proposed UK public sector broadcast partnerships which it claimed could save counterparts £120 million by 2014.
Via Paid Content
BT hits back in iPlayer throttling row
You may remember last week, we published a post regarding BT’s apparent throttling of its users broadband connections. Well, the telecom giant has hit back, going public with its condemnation of online video services like the BBC’s iPlayer and YouTube.
Basically this is how the row has unfolded: The BBC releases a story accusing BT of slowing down broadband connections at peak time – to less than 1Mbps between 5pm and midnight – when users should be getting up to 8Mbps. BT responds by sending an email to BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours stating that content providers “can’t expect to continue to get a free ride”. They also go public with this stance.
The Beeb have responded today, via their blog, saying that BT’s move was a “forthright call for cash” and that the row could end with net neutrality becoming obsolete.
What this means is that ISPs, who currently make no differentiation between types of internet traffic, could begin to charge content providers for their output, particularly bandwidth hoggers like the iPlayer.
The row illustrates how much the net has evolved over the last few years. With the mass introduction of high-bandwidth streaming service like the iPlayer, Spotify, YouTube and the like, the pressure on ISPs to provide a fast and consistent service to their users has increased dramatically.
Lord Carter’s Digital Britain review is due next week and should call for broadband at high speeds and low prices. It might just be that content providers are going to have to come to a compromise with the ISPs to make that happen.
Whatever the outcome, the end users should not be the ones who are penalised. If an ISP advertises up to 8Mbps broadband with unlimited data allowance then that is exactly what they should provide. They shouldn’t promote a service if they are going to struggle to provide it.
(via The FT)
4oD to relaunch with huge archive
Channel 4 has today announced plans for a relaunch of 4oD, its catch up service that was originally released in November 2006.
The new version, available from July, will allow users to watch their favourite Channel 4 programmes direct from Channel4.com, free of charge.
The current service allows users to watch programmes for up to 30 days after they are first broadcast. With the exclusion of US shows such as Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives, users will no longer be restricted to the 30 day period.
In fact, full seasons of older shows such as Queer as Folk, Brass Eye and Father Ted will be available in their entirety. Users will have a massive selection of Channel 4 shows at their fingertips, without the need to purchase DVD box-sets. What’s more, the service will be fully compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux.
The move is sure to put pressure on the BBC’s iPlayer service which, despite proving massively popular, only has access to programming from the previous 7 days.
With rumours also persisting that Hulu are also planning a UK launch, it’s an exciting time for on-demand television.
(via Brand Republic)
Google and BBC to join forces for international iPlayer
The BBC are in talks with Google to launch an international edition of the BBC iPlayer, supported by Google owned YouTube.
The sticking point seems to be the need to aquire international rights for the content shown on UK iPlayer.
Separate negotiations are also in progress between the BBC’s commerical arm, BBC Worldwide and YouTube with a view to the BBC’s archive content, for which international rights have already been acquired, available on YouTube.
It is currently possible to watch some BBC content on YouTube but only in short format; trailers and clips as opposed to entire shows and episodes.
A BBC spokesperson said: “There are a significant number of obstacles to extending this commercially to other countries, including international rights clearance. These obstacles present significant difficulties and for this reason there are no firm plans for a specific international BBC iPlayer, but audiences can watch BBC content outside the UK through numerous BBC Worldwide content deals with online partners such as iTunes.”
(Via Telegraph)
Hulu hitting the UK in September?
The Hulu that they do so well over in the States could be coming to the UK in a deal that would bring 3,000 hours of US TV to our virtual shores. The free to view VoD service is looking to buddy up with the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 in providing an internet platform where all their content can be viewed together in exactly the same way the Kangaroo couldn’t.
But there is a but – two, actually, if I write it like that. There’s issues with how Channel 4 and ITV wish to hold their advertising inventory around the player for their content and, with the Competition Commission lurking round the corner, there’s a horribly familiar feeling in the air that yet another good thing for the consumer could hit the bricks.
I was just about to say that Sky is bound to have a whinge about it, just as they did with Kangaroo, but maybe not so this time. Hulu is backed by News Corp, and News Corp owns Sky. So, maybe this thing does have legs after all.
Still a hell of a lot of teasing out of agreements to do in terms of rules and regs as well as the advertising issue, doubtless, but, fingers crossed, we might actually get what we want this time. Just a shame we needed an American company to come in and sort it out for us.
(via Telegraph)
BBC launches Cbeebies iPlayer
The BBC has launched a child-friendly version of their hugely popular streamed video on demand service over the weekend. Tots will now be able to enjoy all their favourite programming on the Cbeebies iPlayer – probably one of the few places on the net where a walled garden approach would be welcome.
The new player is designed to be a far simpler tool, using brighter colours and little text in order to have an interface that works well for its target audience. It also includes functionality for parents whereby they’ll be able to keep a track on their children’s viewing patterns while having the satisfaction that all promotional links will be child friendly.
Although the player hasn’t been dreamed up as baby sitter, doubtless the service will come as a welcome break to many parents from time to time.
(via BBC Internet Blog)
BBC iPlayer goes HD and Adobe Flash secures TV deal
Here’s a no-brainer for you with them both stuck next to each other on the BBC News page. On the one hand, iPlayer is going HD today. On the other, we’re going to see Adobe Flash chips in TV sets and set-top boxes.
Now seeing as iPlayer, and YouTube for that matter, are both Flash based, it looks as if live broadcast TV is taking another step towards an ultimate demise. The issue before, as far as I’m concerned was that the likes of iPlayer and the Tube were too hideously pixelated and rubbish to ever watch on the big screen but in full resolution, there’ll be nothing left to stop them.
So far, they’ll be no Adobe love for the likes of Sony and Samsung but we should be looking at 420 million bits and pieces of hardware as made by Broadcom, Intel, NXP and STMicroelectronics within the next three years. Worth having a little think before you buy AV.
TD Tips: the best online TV viewing/stealing platforms
With the sad and slightly tinged with irrelevance news of project Kangaroo biting the dust, we here at TD wanted to share our alternative suggestions for good, damn good and downright excellent places to watch TV on the internet.
So, instead of waffling on – which believe me, I do like to do – about why Kangaroo’s failure isn’t so bad and yet is important in terms of intelliectual property, let’s get straight to the heart of it. What are we going to do now? Where should we watch TV online. Well, this is the Tech Digest answer…
Kangaroo slaughtered by Competition Commission – joint BBC, ITV and C4 online TV service axed
Project Kangaroo, the planned online telly service that would’ve combined BBC, ITV and Channel 4 content on one handy site for your viewing pleasure, has been binned.
The EVIL denier of free TV is the Competition Commission which has, incredibly, decided that it would be unfair of the Beeb, ITV and C4 to team up as this might damage rival commercial companies that operating in the same “space” – despite the fact that the rival commercial companies routinely allow their users…
BBC iPlayer programme downloads finally coming to Mac and Linux users via Adobe AIR
Yes, that long-winded title pretty much sums up it up – Mac and Linux users who have been (im)patiently waiting for the BBC to develop software that will allow them to download programmes from iPlayer will soon see their wish come true.
The BBC has partnered with Adobe (makes a change from Microsoft) to launch an AIR version of the iPlayer software. As Adobe’s AIR platform is (allegedly) cross-platform, it should mean that any operating system capable of running it will be able to download content…
