Newsletter #97 The BBC Revolutionises Content

Created on 22/06/05

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Our last newsletter (28th April, 2005) was "Building a Community".

While America's entertainment industry, particularly Hollywood and the major record labels, struggles terribly with how to protect content in this digital age, the venerable BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in Great Britain has started throwing the content doors wide open.

Over the past year some of the BBC initiatives are:

1. Setting up the Creative Archive. This is an attempt to digitise all the content that the BBC has commissioned and post it online so that Britons can download and non-commercially mix it with their own films, projects or anything else they are working on. All the content will be made available with a Creative Commons-like license that effectively allows for free non-commercial use.
   
   
2. Backstage is the BBC's developer network where the BBC's online department takes all the information in its content-management system, breaking news, editorials and conferences, and exposes it as a set of standard programming interfaces. If you can write a little code you can create any sort of service with the information.
   
   
3. Five thousand guinea pig households with high-speed Internet connections are being used to experience the BBC's so-called interactive Media Player, or iMP which allows users to view television content on their PCs. Using the iMP, households will be able to search through more than 190 hours of TV shows, 310 radio programmes, regional programming and some feature films. After seven days, the content will be automatically deleted from their computer. The BBC hopes that iMP will become the standard way of downloading and viewing television programmes over the internet in the same way as iTunes has become a favoured means of downloading music.
   Already the BBC's interactive radio player, which uses similar technology to that proposed for iMP, adds millions to the radio division's listening figures. Some shows, such as Radio 1's Essential Selection, have as many "catch up" listeners online as they do when broadcast live.

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One thing that should be noted is that the BBC's revenue is supported by an annual TV licensing fee of 126.50 pounds (just 42.00 for a black and white TV!), something that is not common throughout the developed world. Whether this funding has led to the current drive for content-openness is a moot point - but it does beg the question. Would the BBC have moved in this direction if their funding was via advertising?

Some of the questions that arise from the BBC's moves are:

1. Will this put pressure on other content providers to come up with an online model for content distribution, rather than just protecting their current channels?
2. Will the BBC look to commercialise their content by making non-Great Britain residents pay for downloading content?
3. By allowing their content to be available for developers and others, will a number of new services be spawned? If so, will these new services be ripe for commercialisation in their own right?

Way back in March 2003, In Saving Private Hollywood I pointed out how Hollywood could make even more money by supporting a downloadable movie format using broadband. Since then the major content providers have made no progress, whereas the BBC has made great strides.

When the BBC iMP system is successfully up and running, American consumers (in particular) will start asking why they can't have such a system. And once that starts it will be the beginning of the end for the CD/DVD cash cow.

Newbies

PC’s have a built in clipboard, which allows the user to copy selected information from one source and paste it into another source. To of the most common keyboard shortcuts that use the clipboard are "Ctrl + C" (copy) and "Ctrl + X" (cut) - both these shortcuts place your selection into the clipboard. You can then go "Ctrl + V" to paste the contents of the clipboard (your selection) where you want to.

Power Users

If you do lots of typing in IE (webmail, blogging, forums and diaries etc) then IeSpell may be what you need. You get to choose between American, British or Canadian dictionaries and can store your own personal word list across all applications. Free for personal use. http://www.iespell.com/

For previous tips visit the Power Hot Tips page.

Not so much a site but a very interesting article: "Human evolution at the crossroads" on MSNBC. A fascinating look at five possible paths for human evolution over the next few million years. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7103668/

"If you do not know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere." Henry Kissinger

You can see our other Quick Quotes on the front page of www.netinsites.com; just refresh the page to see another one randomly selected from our database. Great for presentations or times when you want to appear to be a techno-dude(ss)!

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Best wishes

Alex Garden

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