Free BBC content online
First it was McDonalds and now it is the BBC as The Cloud continues to take the UK by storm in terms of Wi-Fi access.
The BBC have just signed up with the provider of 7,500 hotspots around the UK to ensure that the “news website, programme sites and downloads of TV shows via the iPlayer can be accessed freely.” At the same time the BBC confirmed their TV catch-up service will be available for Mac and Linux users by the end of the year! Well it better be for the BBC’s sake after the BBC Trust said “it had approved the iPlayer on the condition of “platform neutrality”, including a download service.”
The broadcaster has signed a deal with Adobe to provide Flash video for the whole of the BBC’s video services, including a streaming version of its iPlayer.
Currently only Windows XP users can use iPlayer, downloading programmes on to their PC and keeping them for up to 30 days.
What I love most about the news though is the quote: “the BBC said the ambition was to let users download programmes over wi-fi on to portable devices, such as the Sony PSP and Nokia 95.” Yeah, no mention of the iPhone!
I think this is a really innovative move by the BBC, who for a long time now have had one of the best online strategies around out of all the TV companies.
Via [BBC]
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I’m assuming you don’t have to pay a tv license to access the content via the web — which begs the question: why pay a tv license if you can just watch freely stuff online. But, if no one pays the license, who pays for the content to be produced?
on October 17, 2007 at 05:49 PM - LINK