The BBC unveils its iPlayer
Friday, April 20th, 2007Beeb trials on-demand catch-up service
The BBC has announced that it is trialling its iPlayer on-demand service – an online service which allows viewers to download programmes from the last 7 days to watch on their computers, much like the Listen Again feature on the websites of the BBC radio stations.
Auntie has also confirmed that it intends to raid its archives and make every programme produced by the BBC to be available for downloading in the future.
This means viewers will be eventually be able to download great moments from TV history, excluding what hasn’t already been repeated to death on UK Gold. Viewers will be able to watch John Peel presenting Top of the Pops, England’s World Cup victory over West Germany, the baffling interpretive dances of Pan’s People, and other long-forgotten shows such as Jukebox Jury, The Liver Birds and, er, Chalk.
20,000 people signed up for the trials of the service, which will allow people to download up to 1000 hours of BBC content ranging from documentaries, news bulletins, to children’s programmes and drama. If the trial is successful and the service is green-lighted for general public use, it is believed that viewers will be able to download content which will also be able to be watched on regular TV screens via a broadband/iPTV connection, and on certain mobile handsets. The venture has been dubbed as being “platform-agnostic,” meaning that PC and Mac users will be able to download content.
One issue yet to be ironed out is one of copyright – in light of all the stick that record companies received over DRM, many viewers are concerned that they will be unable to share content that they have downloaded, content that some, particularly critics of the licence fee system, feel that has already been paid for.
The ‘other’ terrestrial channels have also launched Both Channel 4 and Five already have on-demand content (4oD and five.tv) and ITV have also just launched ITV Local London, a public-access-esque broadband TV service mostly based on user-generated footage, showcasing the work of local film and documentary makers.
