Slashdot Mirror
BBC to Put Entire Radio & TV Archive Online
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is to to put it's entire radio and television archive online, free for everyone, as the BBC Creative Archive." The article is a little thin on how far back these archives go, but regardless, this is a gigantic amount of data, and to see it go online, and open to the public is very cool.
All of the programmes currently avaliable are in streaming realmedia, catered to the 56k audiance. I could see this initiative falling flat on it's face unless a burnable, portable and high quality format is used.
This would be a great use for Bittorrent. It would be expensive for BBC to distrubite these; with Bittorrent, it would keep the costs down, and present a non-piracy method to the public.
P.S.: Those things that sound like commercials in the NPR broadcast can't be commercials, because public radio doesn't have commercials by definition. They must be "sponsorship acknowledgements."
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
DVDs will definately be much higher quality than these internet-focused formats. It's worth it to buy the DVDs, but I think what the BBC guy had to say is very interesting: He wants the digital revolution to have more "public value" as opposed to lining corporations pockets. I think it's a great move, and I applaud his actions. I will be glad to see the final site when it is unveiled. I hope this project succeeds.
I think it's wonderful as well. Without this service, people of younger generations would never be able to experience the masterpieces of that time period. I don't think that we will ever go through such a renaissance of programming again; look at the trash TV that is currently being broadcast in the U.S. The older programs have such a higher quality (mainly due to superior acting, a lot of them had vast experience in Shakespeare, though my knowledge of it is a little limited), and it would be a shame for it to be lost in the wastes of the past.
With the huge bandwidth needed for a project like this, just wait til it's online and Slashdot links to it ;)
Well, since they have the copyrights over loads of stuff, and they are a public organization, not a company, I think they'll just have to shut up. They're simply serving the public like they're supposed to :-)
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
Please let it be divx instead of realmedia or other crap!
... And I, not being a British subject, would still be willing to pay a lesser "TV tax" subscription for the access to a near-TV quality, downloadable archive in a portable format.
Let's be fair: the cost of these fine productions (and let's not get into the nit-picks about cardboard sets and cheesy sci-fi aliens) has already been borne by the TV-tax paying British public. They got to see ad-free television produced by people who were willing to take artistic risks because the they weren't subject to the tyranny of the marketing department.
If this is your style, I suspect you'd like to support them in producing more of the like. I like the sci-fi and the some of the comedy the BBC produces. If I could have access to new productions, even if it was a year or so after the first run in England, I'd would be willing to pay for it.
I think this archive of older radio and TV is a fantastic idea, even if it's not in a portable format right now. Fair enough: if you getting it for free, you can't complain how you're getting it. If the BBC would like an extra revenue stream, earmarked to support risk-taking entertainment that might not be universally popular, but still take direct feedback from the public, rather than markerters, I'll find a way to convert a few US dollars to pounds sterling to support it.
So, a question for anyone who wants to take it on: What would be a good business model for the BBC to take, understanding that their mandate is to produce entertainment for the British public, to enable foreigners to have access, provide support and feedback without jeopardizing that mandate?
the BBC embrace new media, they have the top EU website, they have massive streaming media capabilities, they run Interactive services via digital cable and SKY tv, and they have a whole town (Kingston on Hull afaik )who have true VOD, want to watch that soap from last week because you missed it, press a few buttons and you can watch it instantly (Kingston Hull) want to catch up on the news, press a button and voila instant news no waiting no messing
they are even enginnering stories that have alternate endings so you can choose through the program
yeah fuck em egh, you keep paying your 40 a month to watch adverts with TV inbetween on SKY
BBC is a bargain
I can see how this can be a project that will be instantly way too expensive to keep going for the BBC. Because we all know that on opening day, the announcement will be here on Slashdot, home page of the entire world's geek population. And of course, we'll all be clamouring to download their entire archive all at once. If we don't make their servers beg for mercy, we'll melt their routers with the traffic.
But I guess we'll just have to see. If it hasn't been done already, we should write them and recommend Bittorrent, or perhaps find good mirroring sites.
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
Believe me, we (people outside UK) do and we are really grateful to people like you (no kidding). Tuning to BBC World is literally like a stream of fresh air in almost all countries. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism for us to support BBC, except to occasionally buy some DVDs, but Britain gets our most sincere gratitude.
:)
On an unrelated note, Global Business just started airing (and webcasting) the first episode of the 3-series programme about Russian business that I helped to make.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
What will the RIAA say?
What will the MPAA say?
Who gives a crap?
Hint: The last A stands for America. No matter what they may have you believe, neither of these organisations mean a thing outside of the USA.
Thankfully!!
Did you know there are places outside of america? :-) . I tend to listen to the BBC world service on shortwave becuase the local media (CBC) is crap. . :-)
The UK is not in america so the RIAA and MPAA have very little say there . Plus its the BBC , they are the british broadcastin service . You f with them and you can bet if your company does any shady business practices everyone will know (not just the UK , thats the miracle of syndication
As for BBC produced , those will probably happen first and then any witch the BBC has a license to rebroadcast in any format
I do agree with you though , I can hardly wait for this archive to come
Wouldn't 'free, legal TV entertainment downloads' result in absoloute outrage from the MPAA and friends? I can't see it ever happenning....
this is why you will NEVER see this happen in the USA.
the laws here that are bought and paid for by the RIAA and MPAA will disallow any such heresy such as this.
The USA will sink into a cultural dark ages while the rest of the world, if they are able to fight off the push by the US govt. to "be like us... help us protect the sacred mickey mouse....."
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Lets see..
Rupert Murdoch.
BBC.
Rupert Murdoch.
BBC.
Damnit, give me the BBC every time, I can live with being a Fuckhead.
They may have started TV in 1936 but that isn't when radio broadcasts stopped - there are several BBC radio stations, plus the BBC world service, still broadcasting. For radio play enthusiasts there should be an enormous amount of material to be had
If you set cynicism aside for a second, it doesn't take too much effort to imagine a better future where the would-be Intellectual Property lords are defeated by public and private funding of new works. Rather than perpetually paying rent for artificially scarce content, people would instead pay organizations (like the BBC) and individuals for what's actually scarce: the creation of new content.
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Power to the Peaceful
Greg Dyke's actual quote:
"We intend to allow parts of our programmes, where we own the rights, to be available to anyone in the UK to download so long as they don't use them for commercial purposes."
Note the *parts*. All this is going to provide is a bunch of clips.
"recently BBC changed even its teletext format to prevent users who receive spill-over broadcast (like myself in Belgium) to fully access teletext information; I have my doubts on their willingness to make something available for free outside of Little England"
Rather a snide remark from some-one who used to get something for free that people in "Little England" have to pay for.
You still get all their web content for free, don't you ?
You are totally insane. The Beeb rocks!
I live in holland and the quality of TV here is _way_ below the programming of the BBC. Too much moronic dutch drama that feels like the 'school play' and and an increasing amount of US produced touch feely My-kids-got-kidnapped-by-aliens TV-movie drivel is what we get here. It so bad that the best dutch 'home' productions are the TV summaries of the matches Ajax plays.
Having said that, I suspect that people in italy who have to live with RAI Uno would consider dutch TV the best thing since sliced bread. As thedy have to watch those god-aweful Berlusconi sponsored soft-porn game shows. TV of the BBC's caliber must seem totally beyond any possible realm of reality to them iti's.
- It took western civilisation 2000 years to ensure popular literacy, and now we work with icon driven GUI's. Go figure.
The big question is what acutally consitutes the "BBC archive"? Is it everything that's ever been shown on the BBC, or is it only the in-house produced BBC programs?
To take an obvious example, The Simpsons, their definately not BBC property, so I doubt they'll be in the archive, neither will any of the other American imports (24, Buffy, Star Trek, etc.). But then, what about Blackadder? Surely that was made by the BBC? The rights to Blackadder are owned by Tiger productions (Rowan Atkinson's company), this includes the DVD rights for example. Will this be in the archive?
What about Monty Python, 'Allo 'Allo, Red Dwarf, Dr Who or Hitchhikers? A (non-authoritative ) Amazon check suggests that they are all distributed by BBC worldwide, which is the commerical arm of the BBC (and produces all of the commercial UK-* stations on Sky), but how many of these have additional rights? Red Dwarf (the book) is owned by Grant Naylor, Hitchhikers by Douglas Adams. How many books will get sold if these episodes are available for free?
There's also the digitising problem, It might not seem like it, but only in the last 5 years have any TV programs been digitally stored. And the BBC tend to lose things, they lost episodes of Dr Who for example (one is still missing I think), so how many of these archives will be complete?
I am truly hoping that most BBC aired programs will be there (you might have to wait for "The Office"?) but I have a horrible feeling it'll be an archive of Eastenders (bad bad soap opera), Casualty (no blood-n-guts E.R. clone) and Noel's house party (please god no).
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What a time to be sitting on a Gigabit university network... :)
I cannot conceive of this archive existing without some very large and substantial gaps. So much BBC programming (particularly nowadays) is created with the collaboration of private sector companies that it would be a rights nightmare. I also can't help but notice that no time frame is provided here so for all we know he's talking about the distant future and hasn't even seriously begun looking at how to implement this.
Although Blair is desperate to get rid of the BBC or to change its mandate to make it advertiser-funded (in no small part because it criticises "New Labour") any change made to the way the BBC operates or is funded would spell the end of one of the greatest organisations anywhere in the world.
The BBC can produce the programs they do, and report news in the way it does, because it answers to no-one. Not the UK government, not to sponsors, not to advertisers. It doesn't have to keep anyone happy. Think of this: How in-depth was the reporting of the M$ vs DoJ debacle on MSNBC? How in-depth was the reporting of AOHell's financial woes on CNN?
The BBC recently came under huge criticism for their claim that the UK's official government dossier on Iraq's WMD was "sexed up". In the viewer feedback section they had on this, at least half of the comments posted on the BBC's site were anti-BBC. Some were calling for it to be shutdown and disbanded. Can you imagine CNN doing the same?
I think the decision to open up their content archive to the public for free is truly wonderful. I think it also has business possibilities for the BBC. Would ISPs in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries get business from advertising a high-speed BBC content mirror? I think so. ISP pays the BBC to mirror their content = ISP gets more customers = BBC gets more money.
If the BBC's sale of DVDs and videos remained unchanged or even went up as a result, it would also put a final nail in the coffin of the MPAssA and RIAssA's arguments that: free download = doom, gloom, bankrupt artists = death of civilisation as we know it. The BBC has the might to compete with anyone on the world stage. Their public popularity is, and has been for many year, the envy of every other media company in existence. The RIAssA and MPAssA would not have a leg to stand on should the BBC come out in favour (backed up by figures, of course) of making content freely-available.
Now, where do I get that OC43 connection from?
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