This seems to be a very progressive move from the BBC. I'd be careful when making a comparison to Tivo, however. A better comparison might be the system they currently have in place for their digital radio station, BBC7. All of its programmes are archived for a week, which has revolutionised the way I personally listen to radio. I don't need to be sitting next to the radio at 6.30pm any more; I know that the programmes I'm looking for will be available for a whole week.
Some people on this board have commented that a week isn't long enough and that they want to keep content permanently. Please consider the fact that the BBC has an extremely large archive of excellent material. With the BBC7 weekly radio archive, I literally can't find enough time to listen to all the content they're pumping out. I wouldn't want to have access for longer, as I'd have an even larger backlog and proportionately less time doing other things!
One thing that will be interesting to watch is whether they will choose to make this service available internationally on a subscription basis. Technically, the Royal Charter prevents them from providing the content overseas if it is paid for by the license fee. A subscription model should circumvent this problem and they did speculate a year or so ago that this might be a possibility. The other problem would be that of international rights holders: the Beeb is required to source about 20% of its programming from external production companies, which presumably would want to exercise their own controls over such distribution. But this may not be insurmountable: the BBC World Service seems able to broadcast music to the four corners of the world and has done for many years.
Hats off to Auntie Beeb on this. I think they're in a position where they can show the broadcast industry how to embrace the internet.
Slashdot Mirror
This seems to be a very progressive move from the BBC. I'd be careful when making a comparison to Tivo, however. A better comparison might be the system they currently have in place for their digital radio station, BBC7. All of its programmes are archived for a week, which has revolutionised the way I personally listen to radio. I don't need to be sitting next to the radio at 6.30pm any more; I know that the programmes I'm looking for will be available for a whole week. Some people on this board have commented that a week isn't long enough and that they want to keep content permanently. Please consider the fact that the BBC has an extremely large archive of excellent material. With the BBC7 weekly radio archive, I literally can't find enough time to listen to all the content they're pumping out. I wouldn't want to have access for longer, as I'd have an even larger backlog and proportionately less time doing other things! One thing that will be interesting to watch is whether they will choose to make this service available internationally on a subscription basis. Technically, the Royal Charter prevents them from providing the content overseas if it is paid for by the license fee. A subscription model should circumvent this problem and they did speculate a year or so ago that this might be a possibility. The other problem would be that of international rights holders: the Beeb is required to source about 20% of its programming from external production companies, which presumably would want to exercise their own controls over such distribution. But this may not be insurmountable: the BBC World Service seems able to broadcast music to the four corners of the world and has done for many years. Hats off to Auntie Beeb on this. I think they're in a position where they can show the broadcast industry how to embrace the internet.