BBC's iPlayer's Prospects Looking Bleak

An anonymous reader writes "The future of iPlayer, the BBC's new online on-demand system for delivering content, is continuing to look bleaker. With ISPs threatening to throttle the content delivered through the iPlayer, consumers petitioning the UK government and the BBC to drop the DRM and Microsoft-only technology, and threatened legal action from the OSC, the last thing the BBC wanted to see today was street protests at their office and at the BBC Media Complex accompanied by a report issued by DefectiveByDesign about their association with Microsoft."

Comments

Re:DRM is the problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, there's no law saying stuff has to be cross-platform, but (almost) all Brits pay a TV tax, and this covers the online content as well. So, people object to paying a tax and then being told "Oh, you don't use Windows, so this online content is useless to you."

          Plus, last I checked, Realplayer was cross-platform and supported rights restrictions, along with flash. Of course they can and have all been cracked, but so has Windows' rights restriction system. And, yes, as a practical matter, people want this DRM-free; the current content on TV can be tape (Tivo, etc.) recorded and watched whenever, so having the computerized version have additional restrictions placed on it is a step backwards, removes far use rights, and is something noone but the big media is interested in.

What Happened?

[organgtool]

A few years ago, the BBC seemed to be keen on the idea of releasing content in Ogg/Theora. Then they wanted to help develop and use the Dirac codec. And now they want to use a DRM-encumbered Microsoft codec.

This is an interesting situation because of the BBC's role as a "state-owned but independent corporation". I skimmed the Wikipedia article and it appears that the BBC is a for-profit corporation, but the fact that it's state-owned leads me to believe that its funded by taxpayers. If that is the case, why should taxpayers have to pay for DRM-infested media that was sponsored by their tax money?

Re:What Happened?

[Chris_Jefferson]

No, the real problem is that some UK taxpayers don't understand that it costs them the same whether or not anyone else watches the shows too.

No, it doesn't, as the BBC currently makes money selling content to foreign stations, which would dry up if the BBC gave the content away for free.

Re:DRM is the problem

[Shrubbman]

The BBC receives its funding from people in the UK paying an annual license fee mandatory for anyone with a TV. It's programming is funded by the people, for the people, so I think you can see the problem people are having when access to that content through a new channel places proprietary restrictions on access to said content. So yes, the whole furor is that this is NOT just a private TV company, it's a public institution.

Re:Huh?

[farmerj]

The BBC is relatively unique as broadcasters go. Unlike most broadcasters its market is not selling air time to advertisers but as a public service broadcaster. There are no outside adverts on the BBC network (though they do advertise their own programmes, similar to other broadcasters).

All funding for the BBC comes from the UK tv licence and the sales of programming and other commercial activity (e.g. selling Dr. Who and publishing magazines such as the Radio Times)

The BBC is controlled by the BBC Trust (formally the BBC governors) and according to its charter is "free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners"

The BBC added free to air distribution of its programming over satellite in order to provide maximum access to its services to its viewers. One of the side effects of this is that the BBC channels can be received with standard DVB-S equipment across most of western Europe.

This is the reason that people are angry with the iplayer situation. It artificially restricts the service to Windows users and prevents full access by all of the licence paying population of the UK. This is completely the opposite of the satellite case where reception is open to others extremely outside the borders of the UK to ensure that UK licence payers have access to the service (note it is possible to receive this as far away as Bulgaria and beyond, so we are not talking about a small over-spread here!

Re:DRM is the problem

[VJ42]

but does that TV tax actually cover television programs distributed over the Internet? Yes, infact, if I didn't have a TV, but was to watch a BBC programme live on the web (note the live, if it's not broadcast simultaneously, it doesn't matter), I would technically be in breech of the law if I didn't have a TV licence.