BBC Episodes Legally Available Via Peer To Peer

Kript writes "According to the BBC they are going to make a number of their shows available on the Azureus network. A number of old favorites will be available such as Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and even Little Britain."

Misleading Headline & Summary

[drinkypoo]

It won't be available for free on Azureus, it will be a DRM-infested pay-download on Azureus' pay service, Zudeo [zudeo.com], and they haven't even decided what they're charging.

Re:In typical Slashdot fashion...

[drinkypoo]

I'm wondering if Warner Home Video will lay the hammer down on me if I want to watch Red Dwarf in this manner...being in the U.S. and Warner Home Video being the U.S. distributor of many BBC programs.

You do not have an agreement with Warner not to purchase Red Dwarf from another source. If the beeb has an agreement with them not to distribute it to you, then they have something to talk about, but it doesn't involve you.

Re:It's a trap!

[Nuskrad]

A yearly payment that allows you to operate a TV in a premises. The costs are used to pay for BBC TV, Radio and Interactive services.

Re:In typical Slashdot fashion...

[Anonymous Coward]

To quote TFA "No pricing structure for the BBC content on Zudeo has been revealed."

So there might be a difference...

Re:It's a trap!

[ethanms]

For those of us in parts of the world unfamiliar w/ the UK's practices:

http://www.taith.org.uk/tv/newapproach.htm [taith.org.uk] (an interesting letter w/ commentary)

http://www.marmalade.net/lime/#people [marmalade.net] (personal accounts of dealing w/ the licensing)

Apparently these letters aren't from the BBC anymore, it's from a form of collections/enforcement agency that the BBC contracts... hired goons--

"As a result of The Broadcast Act 1990, the BBC were made responsible for licence administration. TV Licensing is a trading name used by entities contracted by the Licensing Authority (the BBC) to administer the collection of television licence fees and enforcement of the television licensing system. The majority of the administration of TV Licensing is contracted to Capita Business Services Ltd, with the administration of cash easy payment schemes contracted to Revenue Management Services Ltd, and marketing and public relations activities contracted to the AMV Consortium."

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/aboutus/index.jsp [tvlicensing.co.uk]

Re:Misleading Headline & Summary

[Anonymous Coward]

Patience, dear boy, patience :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPlayer [wikipedia.org]

It IS coming - just rather slowly. It's shame that it is going to be WMP based DRM, but you have to appease the Indies/Film companies, etc, somehow.

There is going to be the Open Archive some time next year too, with old BBC content being brought online.

Next year is going to be a BIG year for the BBC online, should all go well. One shouldn't underestimate the complexities of a project such as iPlayer - it's probably the biggest Internet based software project in the UK at the moment, and the BBC really has to deliver correctly first time, otherwise there will (rightly) be uproar from the license fee payer.

But hey, it's all a step in the right direction!

Re:Balls of Steel

[jonnyelectronic]

While that may have come from the UK, it did not come from the BBC.

cracking zudeo's torrent wrapping

[speculatrix]

it took me just a few minutes of guesswork to avoid having to use the zudeo software at all; I didn't install it. When you click to download, it saves a .jnlp file which is just an XML wrapper around a URL containing a torrent, then download the torrent and open it with a torrent downloader (shareaza will do nicely). It will save a file called .hdmov, which you just rename so it will open with Quicktime.

Thus who needs zudeo's spyware?

Re:Linux users not required.

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows only? I thought so too when I visited the site at work.

I got home and went to the site in Linux, and was given a link to download the Linux client. Maybe your user-agent is screwed up.

Here it is if you don't believe me: http://torrents.aelitis.com:88/files/Azureus_2.5.0 .0_linux.tar.bz2 [aelitis.com]