Mediaholic

There is an interesting article in Hot Stuff (a gadget and technology magazine) about the BBC plans for Internet TV in 2006. Here is a quote:

“The BBC has confirmed its reputation as the world’s most tech-savvy auntie by announcing an autumn launch for its new internet TV and on-demand service.Provisionally called MyBBCPlayer, it will see the Beeb simulcast its terrestrial channels live on TV and the Internet for the first time. The move follows a ‘wake-up call’ last year when new Doctor Who series was leaked on the net, and the emergence this year of broadband services from Sky and BT.”

While this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, there is little word about the kind of restrictions they intend to have and whether it will work worldwide or just in the UK (as is the case right now during the testing period). It is also not clear if one will or won’t be able to download shows to an iPod, PSP or other portable media players. This is particularly disappointing as the BBC was one of the first companies to follow the podcasting phenomenon and offer some of their shows for download based on this open standard. One would expect that now, with the video iPod and PSP gaining popularity, the BBC will do the same for video and offer some of their shows as video podcasts (or to use some of the other names out there, video blogs, vlogs, vodcasts, etc.). Alas, it looks like instead of doing that they decided to create their own players and introduce a whole bunch of restrictions that stifle innovation and probably make it better for now to stick with a DVR and just copy the shows to the iPod from there.

In contrast the PBS has taken the plunge with video already in mid 2005 and started offering shows as video podcasts to people all over the world. Their shows can be downloaded and viewed on any device and if necessary even converted to other formats in order to accommodate technical limitations of certain devices. In that respect the PBS is a true pioneer, by offering its shows with no DRM system and no geographic restrictions, the PBS is in fact the first traditional media broadcaster, that has truly gone worldwide and is available now to more people than any channel has ever been. WOW! What an achievement for a public broadcasting network that is operating on relatively small budgets.

So what exactly is the difference between the BBC and the PBS in terms of how they offer their video content on the web? The BBC is using its own player and is employing a certain Digital Right Management (DRM) scheme to prevent people from playing the media outside of that player. The PBS on the other hand, is relying on open standard to publish its video content and makes it available via RSS without any DRM system “protecting” it (this is just like both the PBS and the BBC make audio programming available). The benefits of relying on open standards and in avoiding DRM, are not just in the ability to copy the media to an iPod or a PSP but also to access it from any software that can read RSS (typically referred to as an RSS aggregator) such as iTunes. Another example of such software is TVersity, through which one will be able to access the PBS programming on their network enabled TV and mobile devices once the next release is made.
So it seems like the BBC was off to a great start with Internet broadcasting when it embraced audio podcasting, and yet is not doing that great when it come to video. It is our hope that they change their mind and leverage the great opportunity in the market today to become a leader and a pioneer in open and standards based Internet broadcasting, and if they don’t then too bad for them since others will seize this marvelous opportunity.