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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."
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.
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."
shrug. Works great for me. Find program I like. Click play. Enjoy.
Not popular? It accounts for 5% of all UK network traffic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iplayer). Considering the other 95% is porn, that's still significantly popular.
Be careful. They might start trying to pull money from people that have already paid the "taxes" (there is some piece of semantics that makes the tv license not quite a tax). For instance dvds of bbc shows aren't noticebly cheaper than other channels despite the bbc's funding model. It's possible that they might take this route with online content if charging becomes normal for other channels.
Also, I do object to the tv license, mostly because of their marketing department. Junkmail is never welcome but theirs often contains borderline threats. They also have a nasty habbit of sending salesmen to people who ask not to be spammed.
"Welcome to our world. We are the wasted youth. And we are the future too." Yes, I know these are stupid lyrics.
As a brit, watching that reminds me of all the is bad about US TV. It's over produced, badly edited, misconstrued action (for dramatic effect), constant 'dramatic' sound track, 'dramatic' voice over, all about the confrontational aspect....
Compare to the UK version and as you say, it's more about the business, more 'factual' there's no dramatic voice-over providing unneeded 'tension'.
It reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer 'grabs her can' gummi venus de milo, or something.
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.
Black books
League of gentlemen (so different from the similarly named the crappy film)
Spaced
Jam
Little Britain
Off you go :)
Top Gear is very popular in the US; the series and the magazine are well regarded. Your over-generalizing and "fashionable" anti-Americanism is what doesn't go down well.
So, do all of you laugh at the SSC Ultimate Aero? It is currently the world's fastest production automobile. That's nothing to laugh at.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is usually crucified.
Watch TG review of any american car, with a few exceptions (such as the ford transit van) we think they suck, and it's not just anti-Americanism we really do think you guys make crap cars.
Uh you know that JC owns a FORD GT40, right? Also, if I remember correctly, the F-150 review was of a Lightning which everyone over here thinks is ridiculous, and most of the complaints involved it's size being impractical for the UK. Duh! The road system and fuel prices are dramatically different and cars that work one place don't work in another. I mean I'd be a little bonkers to drive some of the tiny cars that are popular in Europe on an interstate just like you wouldn't try and drive a F-150 through a hamelet...
You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
Examples:
I regularly watch all the above, even if they are "out-of-date"...
Probably because BBC America isn't the BBC, its a commercial entity set up to screw you out of as much $$ as they can get away with (the American dream, right?). The BBC itself is not allowed to fund any programmes not available to UK viewers, so these corporates have to be legally and organisationally separate, and entirely self-funded.
So the BBC will be selling the full hour episodes to BBC America, which then 'reformats' it for domestic viewing based on the current environment - ie adding loads of ads.
I suppose the trick is to buy video equipment that displays region 2 DVDs, and buy them directly from the UK. Alternatively, write in and complain that you wouldn't mind these programmes being broadcast separately (maybe during the night) in th extended version. We're doing that over here now - programmes like QI are now shown as repeats with extra bits or material that were cut from the original half-hour episode. They're called "QI XL", or "Have I Got a Bit More News For You" and contain another ten minutes or so, so the network isn't adverse to doing this.
If you like Frankie Boyle, you might like Argumental on Dave. quote:
I never thought I'd see the day where Frankie Boyle would be referred to as only the second most offensive ginger haired chap to appear on a stage and make people piss themselves laughing while at the same time leaving them feeling both disturbed and afraid for their own safety.
Buzzcocks - was brilliant in the early days, Mark Lamarr would tease bimbo contestants by telling them the answers and they *still* wouldn't get it right. Hilarious at times.
Have I got News for You - still good, but not nearly as good as the Radio4 version, the News Quiz. Its kind of a dumbed-down version for prime-time TV audiences who need pictures to go with their comedy.
People have mentioned quiz shows like QI, (even if it gets it wrong occasionally), but we do great stand-up shows like Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (watch the one with Rhod Gilbert!), and also sketch shows like Armstrong and Miller (love Brabbins and Fyffe)
Or just browser through the archives on the BBC Comedy site.