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The BBC is flat out a pioneer in media management and distribution. I had the opportunity to use the iPlayer some during the London Olympics, and the level of a

by th0ma5 12y ago

The BBC is flat out a pioneer in media management and distribution. I had the opportunity to use the iPlayer some during the London Olympics, and the level of automation, and the completeness of coverage, really opened my eyes to how media technology in the US is solely at the mercy of licensing and advertising. PBS is somewhat interesting, but only in a "look we know what the internet playing a video is" sort of way. It was a better experience than YouTube, Netflix, Prime, Roku, etc. BBC's model is the future, today.

Osmium 12y ago
Completely agreed. And, to be honest, I'm consistently surprised at the sheer quality of output the BBC manages, not just in terms of content but technologically too. I know they have a lot of smart people working for them, but I'm still surprised bureaucracy and infighting and budget constraints and all the other things that usually hinder progress haven't taken over.
- sopooneo 12y ago
  I completely agree with your sentiment. Could it be that in the UK, there is more ingrained sense of collective duty? Or that the prestige of working for the BBC is such that it attracts higher than average talent and work ethic?
  - tanjk 12y ago
    Have you not heard Radio 2??
dc2447 12y ago
The BBC is in a unique position where not only does it get a massive amount of funding from it's commercial arm [0] it also receives a massive amount on 'tax' in the form of a TV licence [1]. And whilst I am personally proud of some of the technical advances made by the broadcaster I am continually troubled by the commercial advantage the BBC has over it's competitors and the massive waste internally. The later I have personal experience of as I spent some time working for the BBC. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Worldwide#BBC_Worldwide_profit_and_sales_1995.E2.80.932012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Worldwide#BBC_Worldwide_pro... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Uni...
- sdrothrock 12y ago
  > The BBC is in a unique position where not only does it get a massive amount of funding from it's commercial arm [0] it also receives a massive amount on 'tax' in the form of a TV licence [1]. It's not entirely unique. The NHK is in a similar position and look what they've done: broadcast satellite research, digital terrestrial broadcasting, a bunch of different kinds of HD resolutions and codecs, infrastructure, and I think they've even funded research on high-definition TVs. It's pretty cool and makes me wish PBS in the US were more respected and had better funding.
  - rurounijones 12y ago
    Worth pointing out that Japan's NHK is actually modelled after the BBC. So that is two "wins" for that funding model to my mind.
    - ersii 12y ago
      Might be interesting to know that Swedens SVT (Sveriges Television, Swedish Television) is also modeled after the BBC and the UK television license. I'm sure there's plenty more country broadcasters, like above comments have mentioned - the UK and the BBC are quite the pioneers in this field.
      - rurounijones 12y ago
        ooo, didn't know that. Is SVT generally well regarded in Sweden?
      - icebraining 12y ago
        I'm pretty sure it's standard across most of the EU. Portugal also has its own (RTP - Portuguese Radio and Television). Personally, I don't find it any better than the private channels. Even the more cultural/alternative channel has plenty of crap (e.g. Two and a Half Men).
        josephlord 12y ago

by th0ma5 12y ago

Osmium 12y ago

Completely agreed. And, to be honest, I'm consistently surprised at the sheer quality of output the BBC manages, not just in terms of content but technologically too. I know they have a lot of smart people working for them, but I'm still surprised bureaucracy and infighting and budget constraints and all the other things that usually hinder progress haven't taken over.

sopooneo 12y ago
I completely agree with your sentiment. Could it be that in the UK, there is more ingrained sense of collective duty? Or that the prestige of working for the BBC is such that it attracts higher than average talent and work ethic?
- tanjk 12y ago
  Have you not heard Radio 2??

dc2447 12y ago

The BBC is in a unique position where not only does it get a massive amount of funding from it's commercial arm [0] it also receives a massive amount on 'tax' in the form of a TV licence [1]. And whilst I am personally proud of some of the technical advances made by the broadcaster I am continually troubled by the commercial advantage the BBC has over it's competitors and the massive waste internally. The later I have personal experience of as I spent some time working for the BBC. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Worldwide#BBC_Worldwide_profit_and_sales_1995.E2.80.932012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Worldwide#BBC_Worldwide_pro... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Uni...

sdrothrock 12y ago
> The BBC is in a unique position where not only does it get a massive amount of funding from it's commercial arm [0] it also receives a massive amount on 'tax' in the form of a TV licence [1]. It's not entirely unique. The NHK is in a similar position and look what they've done: broadcast satellite research, digital terrestrial broadcasting, a bunch of different kinds of HD resolutions and codecs, infrastructure, and I think they've even funded research on high-definition TVs. It's pretty cool and makes me wish PBS in the US were more respected and had better funding.
- rurounijones 12y ago
  Worth pointing out that Japan's NHK is actually modelled after the BBC. So that is two "wins" for that funding model to my mind.
  - ersii 12y ago
    Might be interesting to know that Swedens SVT (Sveriges Television, Swedish Television) is also modeled after the BBC and the UK television license. I'm sure there's plenty more country broadcasters, like above comments have mentioned - the UK and the BBC are quite the pioneers in this field.
    - rurounijones 12y ago
      ooo, didn't know that. Is SVT generally well regarded in Sweden?
    - icebraining 12y ago
      I'm pretty sure it's standard across most of the EU. Portugal also has its own (RTP - Portuguese Radio and Television). Personally, I don't find it any better than the private channels. Even the more cultural/alternative channel has plenty of crap (e.g. Two and a Half Men).
      - josephlord 12y ago