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New BBC chief vows to re-invent content, not just re-purpose it
- Zenst 14y agoThey could offer content directly to users in other countries for a nominal fee or per access fee and make more returns than they do offering up content to one provider or another for a lesser overall fee. Would be interesting and if done right would make piracy redundant. Could even add in the aspect of gaining viewing credits by filling in marketing information. ANything that makes the TV fee in the UK more palatable.
- glomph 14y agoI always assumed this was part of the reason they developed iplayer. A trial run in order to offer the same thing overseas at a cost.
- Zenst 14y agoInitialy no and it was never planned as such. I have not use iPlayer for many years now and was somewhat put of with the amount of network overhead it would impose for days after closing with requests for cached content from other users clients who still had your IP cached as active. Was akin to running a popular torrent and seeding for a while then suddenly stopping, only more so. I have no idea what it is like now and even if the option to pay for content or to login via account is there. But would not be hard to add given they have the content managment side fully tested now. If it was not on there agenda initialy then your certainly right nowadays or at least it would be silly not to look at that opertunity to tap into overseas content base directly. Though they would need to have people login as currently I would hate to think how many VPN to get a UK'ish IP to use the service currently. Interesting times ahead.
- cturner 14y agoIf they're smart they'll try to create a profit model oriented around online services, and switch their revenue stream to be funded through this. Currently they're funded through the "TV charge" which is a nasty footnote to life in the UK. Regularly I get hatemail through the letterbox telling me what a bad person I am for not paying the fee (mandatory for all owners of televisions), presuming that I have a TV. Yes, you can call them up and tell them that you're not a crimial, but that's not how life in a free country is meant to work, and I'm damned if I'm going to play the game. "Return to sender" every time.
- ajanuary 14y agoTechnically speaking, it's mandatory if you're receiving live broadcasts. You can have a television with no tuner without a license, and if you're watching live TV on your computer you're meant to have one.
- eckyptang 14y agoI just threw my nastygrams in the bin for 10 years. Didn't do me any harm in the long run. I did have some guy knocking on my door about it. He was "removed" from my property forcefully as he was trespassing. Nothing came of it. I have a television now (for the children) but that is it. When they're gone, it's going as well.
- eckyptang 14y agoI don't know why this was downvoted - technically a private company harassing you is trespassing and I am within my rights to remove him. (also I didn't have a television for 10 years).
- gradschool 14y agoThe idea is that the BBC maintains its independence by being financed through its own separately collected tax. The alternative is a system like they have in Australia where the state broadcasting company is a mouthpiece for the party in power, or like in the U.S. where commercial television speaks mainly for corporate interests. Out of all the taxes in the U.K., this is the one I resent least (especially because it's optional in the sense that you're entitled not to pay it if you don't want to have a tv).
- lifeisstillgood 14y agoIt seems that, in @pg's terms, Hollywood intends to kill itself. Whatever pg meant by killing Hollywood, the BBC stands the best chance of convincingly creating a new platform - beyond passive video and phone-ins, into something that is experimental, MOO, and possibly Open. Don't move to Silicon Valley. Move to Shepherds Bush.
- gadders 14y agoAs a Brit, I wish they would ditch all the "me-too" rubbish they do to ape commercial TV - Soap Operas, Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice etc, and concentrate on the quality stuff such documentaries, arts etc.
- timthorn 14y agoI sympathise - there's nothing to beat BBC Four - but Strictly Come Dancing is a massive moneyspinner as a format and helps pay for the quality.
- gadders 14y agoThen just sell the format abroad and not show it in the UK :-)
- ookware 14y agoThe trouble is the population of the UK is a vast spectrum of tastes and they all pay their licence fee. If they don't feel like their getting their moneys worth then they won't pay and the BBC will be shut down as it won't be able to afford to carry on running and you lose everything.
- adrianhoward 14y agoI don't. I hope they carry on providing a broad set of different kinds of content for the whole population. As soon as stuff starts getting ditched the tyranny of the majority means that you're not going to end up with documentaries and arts programming :-)
- k-mcgrady 14y agoI feel the same but they have to try to appeal to everyone as it's publicly funded and there are a lot of people who like "Soap Operas, Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice etc" - unfortunately :).
- lucian1900 14y agoIt'd be nice if they at least removed some of the restrictions iPlayer (DRM, country).
- RossM 14y agoiPlayer shouldn't be assumed to be 'free' to use. The BBC is paid for by the UK license fee-payers (the majority of the population) - there's no reason why other countries should be able to access it. Not to say that I'd be against charging a subscription for overseas access though.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y agoYep. BBC Worldwide is commercial for a reason, if the rest of the world wants it, they should either see it ad-supported or pay.
- lucian1900 14y agoI didn't say it should be free. Right now there is no reasonable way to watch iPlayer from other countries, even if willing to pay. Same for DRM (and watching it without flash).