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BBC Releases P2P TV Client Test

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the next-generation-couch-potato dept.

evildeed writes "The BBC's Internet Media Player trial started today, and a few thousand lucky UK citizens now have a copy. The good news? Legal P2P downloads of quality shows. The bad news? Requires IE and Windows Media Player, and it's probably going to be UK-only. Oh well. One of the lucky few has uploaded screenshots and a brief review." The service was first announced back in may.

7 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. When can I buy the service? by NigelJohnstone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't live in the UK, do they plan to let non UK people get (pay) for access? Anyone from the beeb know?

  2. "UK only"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can someone please tell me how they are going to ensure only those in the UK get it?

    Oh wait, does it mean that it is legal to download it only if you're in the UK?

    1. Re:"UK only"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They have agreements with UK ISP's. It already is in place - as the odd radio broadcasts on the internet are restricted to 'UK only' for rights reasons - they then give a link to the ISP's who are good to go, and say that if you are inside the UK and your SP isn't on the list then you should get in touch with them so they can get in touch with the BBC.

      I imagine an international version will be about sooner or later for all the BBC produced material - but probably fee based. The reason is that those in the UK have already paid the fee by already having (the vast vast majority anyway)a TV licence - so I can see a fee based version run by BBC worldwide as an option for those outside the UK.

    2. Re:"UK only"? by Ngwenya · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They'll use current (imperfect) IP geolocation stuff like everyone else.

      No, they wont.

      I rather think that they will. I know because my wife works for the BBC and showed me a preview of the technology roadmap - which is now public, and so I can talk about it here.

      They're using GeoIP to do IP location, Kontiki to handle the P2P aspect and (at the moment) Windows WMV DRM to handle the encryption and license to view.

      I suspect that this is only the initial technology - there is no way that MPlayer/VLC/etc will implement DRM (and even if they did, they're open source, so people could just dike it out anyway).

      The DRM aspect is for due diligence - so that the Beeb can represent to the content producers (often non-BBC companies) that their content is being safeguarded against the legions of pirates, who, err.. download the stuff via DVB-{S,T,C} and then upload to Bittorrent. In other words - the guys at Kingswood Warren [BBC Tech HQ] know fine that the DRM protection is ultimately bullshit, but that they have to make some good faith effort to raise the piracy bar.

      Back to GeoIP: I tried going out to my (German-based) Web proxy, then back via a UK HTTP proxy to test whether it would work. And it did - proving nothing, BTW, except that non UK people will get access to this content anyway.

      --Ng

  3. Question.. by dotslasher_sri · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wouldn't it be a good idea to open up to the world and generate more revenue from advertising (free internet based content = more potential viewers)?. I know BBC is paid be the UK public and all, but if it can generate revenue by itself who not do it?

    Sri.

  4. Re:How much did MS paid them ? by Minicle · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Interesting that the client for this is MS based when pretty much all other BBC online content (BBC Raido) is distributed by real player clients.

  5. BBC kicks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Don't assume that this trial is necessarily representative of the final goal. As the BBC is a publicly funded entity, there are politics like, why should UK tax payers be providing content for everyone else in the world? There is also the politics of file sharing like, why is the BBC allowing people in other countries to pirate our shows. These issues lie at the heart of the rationale for providing the service: why should the BBC lock up old shows in a vault. We paid for them. It's their responsibility to fully utilize the potential of the programs. This may mean by offering parallel 'broadcasts' or by opening up the archives. And/or something else.

    I'm suggesting we be careful about treating the BBC like it is a private media conglomerate like Time-Warner-MSNBC-AOL-Haliburton rather than a publicly funded, commercial-free, national broadcast network. Will there be DRM? Maybe. Will there be Mac and Linux versions? Certainly. Will we need to use IE or WMP? Very, very doubtfully. Aside from the fact that there is no IE for Mac anymore, the BBC is developing an open source video player (or is it a codec).

    (I still don't get what he problem with the universal format MP4 is. My best guess in MS didn't want a universal codec that will play on any player and has modified their 'version' of MP4 so that it doesn't work on anything. Still, you'd think it might work with WMP ;-)

    In any case, the BBC kicks! If you want TV to take advantage of the technology afforded by digital communications, look to the BBC. Commercial broadcasters, in contrast, will likely take a route most resembling the RIAA and Hollywood. That's the context in which they operate, and that is their weakness. As an outsider in London, I think the BBC is one of the UK's best assets. It's like a high powered version of Canada's CBC.