5 ms·

Personally I kind of agree. Other than storage and traffic considerations I cannot see why the entire BBC archive is not available online. It seems stupid to me

by morrbo 7y ago

Personally I kind of agree. Other than storage and traffic considerations I cannot see why the entire BBC archive is not available online. It seems stupid to me that we have literally 50+ years of content, documentaries, panel shows, etc. Which could all easily be put online as they are the BBC's content and have been paid for by the British people already. I understand that this might be overkill but I definitely find myself wanting to watch older episodes of things like would I lie to you or Rhod Gilbert's work experience or HIGNFY or some other show which disappeared long ago for no real reason. Netflix, Amazon, are all ok but there really is a market for some service which has an entire plethora of shows with permanent storage. I'm also fed up of nextflix getting some show I like only to have it disappeared in a month, or only season 3 of 5 be available. If the BBC can solve that they have my business and I'm sure a lot of overseas business too.

johnnycab 7y ago
>I definitely find myself wanting to watch older episodes of things like would I lie to you or Rhod Gilbert's work experience or HIGNFY or some other show which disappeared long ago for no real reason. You can watch selected re-runs from an archive of older content on Dave[1]. >If the BBC can solve that they have my business and I'm sure a lot of overseas business too I am not sure what you mean by they have my business ─ BBC is not based on a subscription model. It is funded by a licence fee, which is more or less mandatory, unless you can prove otherwise e.g. you don't watch live broadcast etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_(TV_channel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_(TV_channel)
- morrbo 7y ago
  >If the BBC can solve that they have my business and I'm sure a lot of overseas business too I meant that there's currently a market gap for a streaming service with a massive (persistent being key) catalogue of data. Netflix and others have a hodgepodge of TV/movies available, which come and go. I was suggesting that the beeb keep the service as it is in the UK, add the archive content, then release a subscription service overseas with access to the full range of shows. Having that amount of money coming into the UK would do nothing but good IMO. I've seen some replies from others as to OFCOM regulations so it seems this is just a pipe dream at the moment.
- Daviey 7y ago
  > unless you can prove otherwise Important clarification, the onus is on the TV licensing agency to prove you did watch TV whilst it is being broadcast or you use iplayer. It is not for the member of public to prove they do not.
sofaofthedamned 7y ago
But the BBC don't actually own the rights to most of their old output. They were made in an era too where streaming rights weren't a thing.assume it's different with newer stuff but...
- Conjoiner 7y ago
  If it is in the publics best interest for the BBC to own the rights then that can be arranged
  - DanBC 7y ago
    Current government would be strongly against that. They want to BBC to use private production companies who'll make the content that BBC then transmits. This is seen across a wide range of government departments: moving away from big central (often previously state) providers to smaller local private providers.
    - jon-wood 7y ago
      Well, to private providers anyway. The preference for most things seems to be huge multinationals rather than small local companies.
  - onion2k 7y ago
    If it is in the publics best interest for the BBC to own the rights then that can be arranged Is it in the public interest? What is the benefit to the public of the BBC spending the money necessary to reclaim the rights to their old content? I can't think of anything. The shows that have any value (eg Dr Who) have already commericialized. Everything else ... why bother? The obvious point is that it'd be nice to watch some of the old shows again, but really, out of the 97 years of content across radio and television probably 99.9999% would never be looked ay by anyone. Just as a parallel, there's millions of hours of old content on https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/ that never gets looked at. Why would the old BBC content be any different?
    - 7y ago
benj111 7y ago
Absolutely. To go a little bit more high brow. Imagine being able to go through all the Horizon documentaries. Or the Open University Stuff. What about being able to watch political discussions on joining the Common Market. Quite why most of this stuff isn't viewed as a public library that we have the right to access, I don't know.
RantyDave 7y ago
* Every Dr Who, ever. * Hitch Hiker's Guide. * All of Blake's 7. And that's without trying. There's definitely a business there but the BBC just aren't chasing it.
- nicky0 7y ago
  The trouble is that there is a regulator (OFCOM) that will not allow them to do things like this, because it would prejudice commercial broadcasting rivals (apparently).
- Ntrails 7y ago
  When i was young I used to record Jools Holland on VCR and make mix tapes of individual tracks that I enjoyed, it was great fun and made for relatively unique audio. I'd love to be able to just buy the digital audio (heck, the videos, I can strip the audio out) on a track by track basis. They never made it available, so I can't vOv
  - johnnycab 7y ago
    I would love for them to spin out Later...with Jools Holland and some of the earlier stuff and place it on BBC Four, like they are doing with their curated TOTP catalogue. I did find a tracklist on Spotify a while ago, which had tracks from each episode; alas, it is no more. For those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Later..._with_Jools_Holland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Later..._with_Jools_Holland
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    I've been an avid viewer of Jools Holland since I was very young and I second this - there have been a few DVDs over the years IIRC and they're finally starting to put current performances on YouTube but having all of the past recordings available would be incredible.
- arethuza 7y ago
  The BBC does want to do it - they are being prevented by regulation.
atupis 7y ago
Yeah our local public broadcast does this and it is local market leader. https://www.audienceproject.com/blog/key-insights/new-study-netflix-dominates-streaming-market/ https://www.audienceproject.com/blog/key-insights/new-study-...
lanevorockz 7y ago
BBC became quite unprofitable since the Savile scandal,with the change in management and direction the company became a bit lost. That's why quality of the shows dropped and they lost a lot of the money that came through them via BBC World. That's why the BBC is already selling out their assets and removing access to british citizens that already paid for the shows in the first place.

by morrbo 7y ago

johnnycab 7y ago

>I definitely find myself wanting to watch older episodes of things like would I lie to you or Rhod Gilbert's work experience or HIGNFY or some other show which disappeared long ago for no real reason. You can watch selected re-runs from an archive of older content on Dave[1]. >If the BBC can solve that they have my business and I'm sure a lot of overseas business too I am not sure what you mean by they have my business ─ BBC is not based on a subscription model. It is funded by a licence fee, which is more or less mandatory, unless you can prove otherwise e.g. you don't watch live broadcast etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_(TV_channel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_(TV_channel)

morrbo 7y ago
>If the BBC can solve that they have my business and I'm sure a lot of overseas business too I meant that there's currently a market gap for a streaming service with a massive (persistent being key) catalogue of data. Netflix and others have a hodgepodge of TV/movies available, which come and go. I was suggesting that the beeb keep the service as it is in the UK, add the archive content, then release a subscription service overseas with access to the full range of shows. Having that amount of money coming into the UK would do nothing but good IMO. I've seen some replies from others as to OFCOM regulations so it seems this is just a pipe dream at the moment.
Daviey 7y ago
> unless you can prove otherwise Important clarification, the onus is on the TV licensing agency to prove you did watch TV whilst it is being broadcast or you use iplayer. It is not for the member of public to prove they do not.

sofaofthedamned 7y ago

But the BBC don't actually own the rights to most of their old output. They were made in an era too where streaming rights weren't a thing.assume it's different with newer stuff but...

Conjoiner 7y ago
If it is in the publics best interest for the BBC to own the rights then that can be arranged
- DanBC 7y ago
  Current government would be strongly against that. They want to BBC to use private production companies who'll make the content that BBC then transmits. This is seen across a wide range of government departments: moving away from big central (often previously state) providers to smaller local private providers.
  - jon-wood 7y ago
    Well, to private providers anyway. The preference for most things seems to be huge multinationals rather than small local companies.
- onion2k 7y ago
  If it is in the publics best interest for the BBC to own the rights then that can be arranged Is it in the public interest? What is the benefit to the public of the BBC spending the money necessary to reclaim the rights to their old content? I can't think of anything. The shows that have any value (eg Dr Who) have already commericialized. Everything else ... why bother? The obvious point is that it'd be nice to watch some of the old shows again, but really, out of the 97 years of content across radio and television probably 99.9999% would never be looked ay by anyone. Just as a parallel, there's millions of hours of old content on https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/ that never gets looked at. Why would the old BBC content be any different?
  - 7y ago

benj111 7y ago

Absolutely. To go a little bit more high brow. Imagine being able to go through all the Horizon documentaries. Or the Open University Stuff. What about being able to watch political discussions on joining the Common Market. Quite why most of this stuff isn't viewed as a public library that we have the right to access, I don't know.

RantyDave 7y ago

* Every Dr Who, ever. * Hitch Hiker's Guide. * All of Blake's 7. And that's without trying. There's definitely a business there but the BBC just aren't chasing it.

nicky0 7y ago
The trouble is that there is a regulator (OFCOM) that will not allow them to do things like this, because it would prejudice commercial broadcasting rivals (apparently).
Ntrails 7y ago
When i was young I used to record Jools Holland on VCR and make mix tapes of individual tracks that I enjoyed, it was great fun and made for relatively unique audio. I'd love to be able to just buy the digital audio (heck, the videos, I can strip the audio out) on a track by track basis. They never made it available, so I can't vOv
- johnnycab 7y ago
  I would love for them to spin out Later...with Jools Holland and some of the earlier stuff and place it on BBC Four, like they are doing with their curated TOTP catalogue. I did find a tracklist on Spotify a while ago, which had tracks from each episode; alas, it is no more. For those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Later..._with_Jools_Holland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Later..._with_Jools_Holland
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  I've been an avid viewer of Jools Holland since I was very young and I second this - there have been a few DVDs over the years IIRC and they're finally starting to put current performances on YouTube but having all of the past recordings available would be incredible.
arethuza 7y ago
The BBC does want to do it - they are being prevented by regulation.

atupis 7y ago

Yeah our local public broadcast does this and it is local market leader. https://www.audienceproject.com/blog/key-insights/new-study-netflix-dominates-streaming-market/ https://www.audienceproject.com/blog/key-insights/new-study-...

lanevorockz 7y ago

BBC became quite unprofitable since the Savile scandal,with the change in management and direction the company became a bit lost. That's why quality of the shows dropped and they lost a lot of the money that came through them via BBC World. That's why the BBC is already selling out their assets and removing access to british citizens that already paid for the shows in the first place.