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BBC Planning To Launch Global iPlayer VoD Service
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is reportedly mulling over plans to come up with an international edition of its hugely popular iPlayer service, in a bid to allow global audiences to catch up with some of its top shows, according to BBC Worldwide, the corporation's profit-making arm. BBC Worldwide said that the move would help revamp its business model, and thereby help the corporation in raking in significant profits through its premium content."
Well, it is!
I can watch Benny Hill on the way to work.
I have been waiting for a chance to watch BBC streaming, instead of having to wait until someone in the UK records, transcodes, and uploads a torrent...
Name one.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
No, it's (mostly) Adobe only, using Flash for streaming (via RTMP) and AIR for downloaded programmes. The iPhone version uses HTTP streams. get_iplayer is a nice script to download iplayer content a little more permanently.
Nope, works great on any OS/browser with Flash
I would really like to see the criteria of whatever study classified the iPlayer as popular. Nobody likes it. Nobody wants it. Through several iterations in its life, it has failed again and again in ridiculous ways. We the public hate its DRM and regional limits - even for shows that should be in the public domain, we hate the fact that BBC dropped the P2P idea because they couldn't figure out how to get it to work, we hate is clumsy and CPU-hungry interface, we hate it hate it hate it.
What we DO want is the content offered through it, the high quality shows BBC has produced for more than half a century, this application is nothing but a clumsy annoying way to present them to the public.
The more money the BBC can pull in from stuff that my taxes (TV licence, which I don't object to) have already paid for, the better. I realise that the TV licence won't drop in price, nor will I get any money back, but perhaps the money will go on creating more good stuff for me to watch.
Nah, probably the BBC execs will get big bonuses.
From the article: "Luke Bradley Jones, chief of the BBC Worldwide’s digital operations in the US, said in a statement: “Millions of people love Torchwood and would probably pay ten bucks an episode rather than two bucks”. Or they'll laugh all their way to usenet or bittorrent. $10 per episode?!
I hope they include QI in their international lineup. I've been waiting for that show to become available here since I first saw it on YouTube, but no US station has agreed to carry it. These days such videos are taken down pretty quickly, so a legitimate feed of BBC programs would be very welcome indeed.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
The international edition of the iPlayer would include host of popular shows from the BBC's array, such as Torchwood, Doctor Who, and Top Gear, along with historical stuffs from the BBC archives
However it goes on to say
However, the international iteration of the iPlayer wouldn't show domestic content
One big difference between BBC and BBC America right now is commercials and their impact on what we see in America. If the international iPlayer still gives Americans the sliced-up 40-minute shows (as opposed to the 1-hour versions seen in the UK), then they aren't offering anything that isn't already offered in the US on cable (this could be considered "domestic").
Furthermore, those of us who are fans of Top Gear also know that we have missed a lot of episodes and seasons that have been shown; just not in the US. If we could view it through the iPlayer, that would be a win.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I really enjoy many British TV shows over their American counterpart. For example Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares in the US is produced as a reality show, and keys in on the personality conflicts and yelling. The British version of the same show keys on what is wrong with the business and food, and shows Gordon's softer side. The difference is night and day. British movies on Netflix actually have a plot, and not the same formula movie's the US audience has to eat.
That said, would not pay money to watch the channel, but would go along with a localized ad supported version.
State run TV Stations. There is at least one person thinks this is a good idea?? Yikes!
You can watch it now by going through a proxy server based in the UK. That's what I do to watch Top Gear.
Good quality? No ads? Reasonable price? Uncut? Where do I sign?
I just can't see the Beeb redistributing imports like the excellent Spiral, the English title for Engrenages. Most of this stuff ends up on DVD (I bought Spiral on DVD from Australia, complete with SBS's Aussie subtitles), but not always.
...laura
The BBC is a really weird organisation. It's a state-run TV channel, which usually we assume means "propaganda mouthpiece". The BBC is set up in a peculiar way whereby the state collects the money for them but the government is not allowed (in theory) control over the BBC itself. The BBC's charter has various requirements to show balance in political reporting and the government is denied direct mechanisms to interfere in editorial decisions. This generally works pretty well and the BBC is widely considered a fairly accurate, relatively unbiased news source.
This independence can fall down a bit; when the BBC aired allegations that the government had exaggerated evidence in support of the Iraq war, a whole complicated scandal resulted including the suicide of the civil servant who made the allegations (after he was basically abandoned by his department and hounded by the media). The government set up an enquiry called the Hutton Report, which viewed a lot of evidence (including a draft where a political advisor / spin doctor suggested changing "may have weapons of mass destruction" to "has weapons of mass destruction") and came to the conclusion that nobody was really at fault but the BBC should have done better. A bit mystifying to many of us. Anyhow, some say that the BBC has been a bit more cautious about government criticism since then. Nevertheless it (appears to) remain a fairly comprehensive and unbiased source, compared to many of the other major players in news.
- Doctor Who and Top Gear :)
- PayPal micro-payment as an alternative to watching ads, or where you can't get any ads for.
- A price that is somewhere in the range of what you'd get from advertisers.
Why that price? Because I know what you get for ads on the web. And those prices are so low per individual viewer, that BBC would still make a better profit, by asking 5 cent per show, or something like that. A price that nobody can ever think of as too expensive.
I would be happy to pay for something that deserves that money.
Comedy Central should do the same with The Daily Show. Come on. Those prices are like nothing! And you still make a hell of a better profit, as when advertising! And people still can choose to watch the ads, if it's not worth money for them.
It's a no-brainer! A win-win!
You could also let us buy a whole season at once. 65 cent for 13 episodes.
Oh, and of course I expect to be able to save it right from the player. Because I can save it anyway (After all, it already had to be transferred to my computer, to be watchable!), and using my Firefox add-on is not even any hassle. But the gesture of letting me save it right in your player, will show a friendliness that crates important sympathies.
P.S.: I'm a bit ill today, and not that fit. so sorry if my sentences look a bit weird to read. ^^ I hope it all makes sense anyway.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little habbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!
I've probably watched a hundred or more hours of BBC-broadcast content on Youtube (I'm a big fan of the UK political satire shows like HIGNFY and Mock The Week, among others) I've always said that if there were a way for me to pay for this content I would, but it's simply unavailable in the US.
I'm sure the market for those particular shows is niche outside the UK (probably mostly ex-pats, really) but that's what internet distribution excels at! Since they already have the shows prepared for digital download even meager sales would be pure profit.
I emailed them years ago asking how to pay for their service. They responded that they have no way to let me pay for the service, or more importantly had no way of providing my content. So I had to go another route. I pay for a UK proxy; specifically the VPN service:
http://www.ukproxyserver.co.uk/
IF the BBC has VOD, that still won't help with ITV, SKY, and Channel 4 etc.
In fact I'm watching to Russell Howard's Good News Episode 1. Review: it's OK, but he's not nearly as funny solo as he is on Mock The Week.
Sheldon
And Linux is most definitely supported.
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/desktop_linux
Since December 2008, apparently.
You're an immobile computer, remember?
Those of us who have BBC America are getting, generally, 2/3rds of the programming per show that our British counterparts get. This can be especially egregious in some Top Gear episodes where 20 minutes is removed to make room for commercials. And then to make matters worse they sell those same butchered episodes to us in American stores as well.
I would happily pay to see the full Top Gear episodes that I am missing, especially from the seasons that have never been shown in America. Are you listening, BBC?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Commenting to remove a bad mod.
I don't mind VOD / pay for new movies. I can see people paying for latest-run TV shows, I guess.
And there's a lot of BBC stuff I'd like to be able to stream, legally - with some sort of reasonable model.
I'd like to see Doctor Who and whatever that series was that had the British flying around trying to sell franchises, as well as many others - any of the early BlackAdders come to mind as well.
But these are OLD tv shows. You can make a few bucks selling ads and selling ads for DVD / Blu-ray discs. Consider the following VOD:
http://www.slashcontrol.com/free-tv-shows/babylon-5 (yes - all five seasons)
Next ones go without saying:
http://www.hulu.com/
http://www.crackle.com/
And here's the best content manager I know:
http://getmiro.com/
Note to BBC - I hear your iplayer is working now. Great. We don't need the DRM or the extra charges for shows that will come around in rerun on the same non-tiered channels we saw them on outside of your country in the first place - cheers, thanks a lot.
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
When you mean *I*
(And you do mean *I*)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I'd certainly pay to watch on demand, or even a fixed rate for unlimited BBC viewing. But as dwater says, NOT PayPal please folks. I can only get BBC World on satellite here in Morocco, and that is appalling, truly, appalling. The BBC should be ashamed of putting their name to the drivel they broadcast most of the time-though I will admit that some slots are bearable-and as for the number of breaks! They spend more time self-promoting their programmes than actually showing them, and I really don't need a timecheck in all of the timezones every fifteen minutes (yes I know, it's so they can show their sponsor's name). Don't get me going on the weather - has the BBC forgotten that Africa and Europe exist as continents? Is it really necessary to focus so much on the Middle East and India?
This is one of those quotes that has to be remembered. Paying 10 dollars (and most likely 10 euros) for a SINGLE tv episode...
This guy is not just out of touch with reality, he might actually be classified as insane. Imagine having to pay that for something like well, Torchwood. It has 3 seasons, each 13 eps long, so lets make it an even 30x 10 is 300 dollars for this show alone.
Season 1 on DVD costs 47 dollars (on amazon) and 2 costs 57. Lets assume season 3 costs 60 and you have to pay on the iPlayer DOUBLE the price but without any physical production costs.
And I thought iTunes was a ripoff (same price, massicaly reduced production costs === fat profits for someone), but iTunes only charges the SAME price as the CD. Not DOUBLE!
The great "If content produces were in charge of other industries" list
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Its excellent value, its a national treasure, everyone loves it.
So why exactly does it have to be legally compulsory to subscribe to it if you want to watch any TV? Why is this the only subscription TV that you are obliged to subscribe to? Why, if we really want to make it compulsory to subscribe to some TV, do we not allow you to pick the provider of your choice? Why is it, that if you want to watch the English cricket team go down in flames yet again, you are obliged to subscribe to two TV broadcast services, only one of which provides cricket coverage?
Try writing to the BBC and telling them you want to cancel your subscription, because you are choosing to use Sky as your premium content provider. Or you don't want any premium content, you are happy to watch only ad funded TV.
Why exactly can you not do that? What would be so terrible if you could?
The BBC desperately needs competition, and that does not mean other channels that you are permitted to subscribe to in addition to it. It needs competition on equal terms, where you can subscribe to the BBC, to Channel X, neither, or both, as the mood strikes you.
I was looking for a good proxy service in the UK to allow me to watch iplayer. Since most of the Beeb's content is lightyears ahead in quality from the drivvel we get in the Netherlands I'd be happy to pay for it. So, hopefully soon, in the meantime if anyone knows a good proxy service in the uk for a tenner or less per month....
Have you seen ITV news recently? It's like a cross between the Daily Mail, Daily Express and Heat Magazine.
The BBC1 news is going the same way. The only TV news I watch now is Channel 4 News. Channel 4, although partly commercial is a public service broadcaster so its news tends to be reasonably independent.
The best news is on Radio 4 twice a day.
Stick Men
If you've got a slower computer, I'd recommend investigating get_iplayer. It's a fairly simple command-line Perl script that can download videos from iPlayer, in any of the available formats. I've found that VLC uses about half as much CPU as Flash playing them back. It also has a nice PVR mode which you can invoke via cron, where it will automatically download new episodes for programs for you.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
You don't need to have a TV license to access BBC content, you need a TV licence to own equipment capable of receiving broadcast television signals. The iPlayer is on-demand streaming, and so a TV license is not required. Some of the online sports coverage is streamed live, so you do need a license for that. I don't own a TV, but I do use iPlayer a lot.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
The one thing that we got that the US didn't is now available to Americans. Sigh.
Like many parent posters I would pay 5 cents an episode for news without commercials. However, I would be much more inclined to pay 5 cents per show for news completely without corporate sponsorship:
News about how Monsanto could be potentially devastating the entire food chain with genetic experimentation that has already cross-pollinated into the wild.
News about how Aspartame and other chemicals commonly put in corporate food are toxic and cause cancer.
News about how both the British and American governments are completely run by corporations, generally at odds with the welfare and interest of the common man.
News about how the rest of the corporate news is also generally at odds with the welfare and interest of the common man, and in addition at odds with any factual information or truth whatsoever.
In fact, PBS, and BBC should both be running these news pieces on government subsidy for free to the populace and without corporate sponsorship. Further, they should be offering all video online and for free in open formats like .OGG or .xvid, and easily downloadable via an open source torrent app, like Deluge.
Then we could finally be getting REAL information, FCC be damned. Like who killed JFK? Back and to the Left. Back, and to the Left. Back.... and to the LEFT!!!
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
It's about time someone makes the smart play. The internet should have gotten rid of all traditional regions, zones, etc in the media markets years ago. Global network should equal global licensing, instead of bullshit maneuvers to raise the bottom line.
...
This is not entirely correct. You don't need a license to view catch-up programmes but you do need one for live simulcast programming.
Do I need a TV licence to watch programmes on BBC iPlayer?
iPlayer does offer live streams of every BBC channel, which requires a license, apparently. Live or near-live requires a license.
I welcome the expansion of the BBC into the global entertainment scheme. They've been choked off from the rest of the world due to licensing quirks and their stance that entertainment and programming they produce needs to remain with their license-paying audience in Britain. If they do this right, the Beeb will be one more reason I might end up dropping my cable TV altogether and joining the online-only VOD audience.