BBC to Put Entire Radio & TV Archive Online 567
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is to to put it's entire radio and television archive online, free for everyone, as the BBC Creative Archive." The article is a little thin on how far back these archives go, but regardless, this is a gigantic amount of data, and to see it go online, and open to the public is very cool.
BBC currently uses realmedia (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:BBC currently uses realmedia (Score:5, Informative)
Re:BBC currently uses realmedia (Score:5, Funny)
Other things we made our friend quite doing:
- Talking to girls
- His Dr. Who scarf was too short. Man, was that a riot.
- He was living in his mom's basement (pretty normal like the rest of us) but he tried to do his own laundry! Quite the ribbing on that one. 35 year olds don't do their own laundry.
- His episode of "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon" is the censored version where Usagi and Mamoru fall off the balcony WITHOUT the umbrella. Man, what a dork.
Oh, there's plenty of others, but don't get me started!
Re:BBC currently uses realmedia (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm very glad real is still around. The situation might change when Theora has an offcial release, but for the moment the only viable codecs/formats for low bitrate encodes come from Real and Microsoft. And while Real's support for non windows machines isn't perfect, it's far better than Microsoft's. Admitingly real's player is pretty bad, but most techy people are just going to be using real's codecs with another player anyway.
Re:BBC currently uses realmedia (Score:3, Insightful)
All of the programmes currently avaliable are in streaming realmedia, catered to the 56k audiance. I could see this initiative falling flat on it's face unless a burnable, portable and high quality format is used.
I totally fail to see how burnable is important as it is against the will with which this initiative is going ahead. Also you should pay your TV license fee in good faith, i.e. if you want to keep watching someting go and buy it after all most stuff which is worth multiple viewings is availab
Re:What and when? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What and when? (Score:5, Interesting)
That would be a broadcaster with a duty to serve the public, rather than exploit them to make revenue for shareholders, only catering to LCD large-revenue audiences, serving programmes as the carrot-to-get-eyes-watching-adverts in an arse-about-face way. Seems pretty clear to me.
"recently torpedoed by the Kelly affair"
If you read the Times or the Sun, operated by Rupert Murdoch who has an axe to grind against the BBC, because he would like to be the dominant force in British Media (God deliver us all from such a hellish fate.)
"...with the review of the Royal Charter, which provides the conditions under which the BBC operates, due soon (I think in 2005,"
2006
" in any case before Tony the liar gets the boot); it looks like pre-emptive defensive action thus..."
The BBC's internet arm is being reviewed currently. They've been making quite a push with their interactive TV services, and are constantly innovating.
I think you're being cynical in suggesting the only reason that the Beeb is planning this is to defend against hostile forces in the government, though it will surely help.
BBC Radio 7 [bbc.co.uk] currently available on DAB in the UK, and over the internet to the entire world, for free, makes the BBC radio archives available to everyone, in much the same way as this proposal (though a "listen again" function for the station is not, because of diverse licensing conditions.)
What Greg Dyke announced is simply a bigger and broader development of things like BBC online Radio [bbc.co.uk], Radio 7, and many of it's news-themed programmes which are already available.
I don't know what went on with the teletext thing you mention, maybe licensing/copyright issues, but it's a fact that you can listen to BBC radio for nothing, so it would seem unusual if this were being done to prevent anyone from outside "Little England" from getting BBC produced culture (see... I avoided "content.")
In short they're not really known for their meanness in this regard. :)
Your misting of the fire-logs seems a little unnecessary.
Re:What and when? (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally I think that the BBC's approach to interactive TV, digital TV and internet content is a salutory lesson to all those that believe that there is no place for publically funded media organisations like the BBC. I think they are actually innovating and their TV/Web/participation programs (and no I don't mean Fame Fscking Academy) are truly extraordinary. And whether they are responding to or prompting some of the work of the other commercial channels in the Uk, there are some _excellent_ (ok mainly educationally focused) programs being produced.
Having access to all the clasic radio programs online is a delightful thought. Comedy alone is reason enought to be excited.
Re:What and when? (Score:5, Insightful)
Rather a snide remark from some-one who used to get something for free that people in "Little England" have to pay for.
You still get all their web content for free, don't you ?
Re:BBC currently uses realmedia (Score:4, Insightful)
This would be great! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This would be great! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This would be great! (Score:2)
Re:This would be great! (Score:2)
Re:This would be great! (Score:2)
This would put a stop to questions like: Using P2P for Legitimate Applications? [slashdot.org]
But what will the Motion Picture Ass. of America think of that? (Not to mention how the Recording Industry Ass. of America will react.)
Re:This would be great! (Score:4, Insightful)
Or was that not large scale or legitimate enough for you? :)
(There are other examples, but that's the largest one I can think of off the top of my head.)
Re:This would be great! (Score:5, Informative)
This [bbc.co.uk] is a set of graphs of their current RealMedia throughput usage.
This [bbc.co.uk] is a set of graphs of their current overall Internet throughput.
I must ask the obvious. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I must ask the obvious. (Score:2, Interesting)
Just to clarify for the rest of you who may have been wondering:
Yes, 'all' probably includes Monty Python
Yes, 'all' probably includes those naught Dennis Potter plays and series
Yes, 'all' probably includes Faulty Towers.
I've only one question: d'you think it includes The Omega Factor? I'd love to see that again.
Re:I must ask the obvious. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I must ask the obvious. (Score:2)
Re:I must ask the obvious. (Score:3, Interesting)
And decent picture quality isn't a given -- they may encode everything at 256kbps or somesuch, in which case it'll be less than pleasant to watch on a large monitor/TV. DVDs will also presumably continue to include commentary tracks, making-of documentaries, and all the other st
Re:I must ask the obvious. (Score:4, Funny)
Doctor Who
The Prisoner
Hitchhikers Guide (Radio. Didn't care much for the TV.)
Blake's 7
Red Dwarf
Faulty Towers
Monty Python
Etc... Etc...
The real wonderful thing to think about here is not all the free video and audio, but the way having all this free video and audio around will inspire new writers to create stories like these.
Maybe... (Score:3, Interesting)
Link to missing episodes [who-central.co.uk]
Amazing! (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm sorry, you haven't a CLUE (Score:2)
Re:Amazing! (Score:2)
It was on radio 4, then Channel 4, NOT a BBC channel.
Yay for MC! (Score:2, Funny)
YeeeeHAH! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:YeeeeHAH! (Score:2)
Loved Red Dwarf too ... cunna unnersta arf wut te torked bout.
Does this mean... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Does this mean... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Does this mean... (Score:2)
Nonetheless, this does seem like it'd make a small dent in their DVD sales business. Time will tell if the potential loss in sales will be worth the greater exposure.
Re:Does this mean... (Score:3, Insightful)
I wouldn't count on this, since thanks to a U.S. court decision in the late '70s the Pythons own all the rights to the TV series, not the BBC or anyone else.
I cannot conceive of this archive existing without some very large and substantial gaps. So much BBC programming (particularly nowadays) is created with the collaboration of private sector companies that it would be
Great! Who's going too pay for the bandwidth (Score:5, Interesting)
This also means that international folks can't access it. Which is good since I pay my TV License...
Re:Great! Who's going too pay for the bandwidth (Score:2)
Don't forget the Hitchhiker's miniseries. "Ford, you're turning into a penguin. Stop it."
Re:Great! Who's going too pay for the bandwidth (Score:2)
Ogg? (Score:2)
Unfortunately Ogg Theora is not ready yet for video...
Meanwhile, in the good old USA . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
P.S.: Those things that sound like commercials in the NPR broadcast can't be commercials, because public radio doesn't have commercials by definition. They must be "sponsorship acknowledgements."
Re:Meanwhile, in the good old USA . . . (Score:2)
Re:Meanwhile, in the good old USA . . . (Score:2)
Re:Meanwhile, in the good old USA . . . (Score:4, Insightful)
So, yeah, you can write letters to them to make your displeasure known, and to try to convince them to use a more free-software-friendly format. But to characterise the use of RM/WM as a misuse of taxpayer money is just wrong. The fact is that NPR is not directly government funded, nor has it been for years. From the 2000 NPR annual report:
(source - NPR Annual Report [npr.org] - page 21. Yes, it's a pdf, STFU). The report goes on to put the amount of money coming from those organizations at less than 2% of NPR's revenues.
This is so cool (Score:5, Funny)
This news absolutely makes my day. Week! If they manage to do this just a little, this just made my year.
Quotes like this:
"I believe that we are about to move into a second phase of the digital revolution, a phase which will be more about public than private value; about free, not pay services; about inclusivity, not exclusion.
Doesn't that single quote look more exciting than a whole porn site? :-)
The whole BBC library! All the documentaries and stuff... all the Monty Pythons, all the Young Ones, all the Bottoms, all the AbFab, all the Men Behaving Badly, all the Blackadders!
All the cricket Test matches they used to broadcast!!
Oh... Excuse me, I think I just wet my pants.
Re:This is so cool (Score:2)
Then I read this:
All the cricket Test matches they used to broadcast!!
Oh man... Imagine it.... Warney's early matches... Boonie... Tubby taylor, AB... A coupla cases of XXXX.... I'd be in heaven!
Will this actually include *entertainment*? (Score:5, Interesting)
Wouldn't 'free, legal TV entertainment downloads' result in absoloute outrage from the MPAA and friends? I can't see it ever happenning....
Re:Will this actually include *entertainment*? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, since they have the copyrights over loads of stuff, and they are a public organization, not a company, I think they'll just have to shut up. They're simply serving the public like they're supposed to :-)
Re:Will this actually include *entertainment*? (Score:3, Insightful)
this is why you will NEVER see this happen in the USA.
the laws here that are bought and paid for by the RIAA and MPAA will disallow any such heresy such as this.
The USA will sink into a cultural dark ages while the rest of the world, if they are able to fight off the push by the US govt. to "be like us... help us protect the sacred mickey mouse....."
Re:Will this actually include *entertainment*? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you set cynicism aside for a second, it doesn't take too much effort to imagine a better future where the would-be Intellectual Property lords are defeated by public and private funding [firstmonday.dk] of new works. Rather than perpetually paying rent for artificially scarce content, people would instead pay organizations (like the BBC) and individuals for what's actually scarce: the creation of new content.
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Re:Will this actually include *entertainment*? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Will this actually include *entertainment*? (Score:3, Informative)
It's more accurate to say that in the 1970's, in a nasty funding squeeze and an incipient recession, and with no market yet existing for repeats, no domestic videotape yet, only three domestic TV channels, the BBC couldn't afford enough videotape to keep operating and to continue operating except by recycling the tapes they already had. And with Colour being new and wonderful, the archives of old B&W stuff that they wo
This is very good news (Score:2)
I can't wait to see the royle family again. In fact, a friend of mine just ordered the DVDs with the BBC last week.
Re:This is very good news (Score:2)
And Jerry Lewis movies. You have that, too, right?
Remember who's paying for this! (Score:5, Interesting)
But don't get me wrong, I'd like to add how happy I am with the BBC; they offer fantastic services and I'm proud that they're available to everyone in the world. Without much doubt the quality of radio and TV in the UK is far better because of the BBC. Not to mention Brits won't put up with frequent or long advert breaks because the BBC channels have none!
Also, it's refreshing to see a company be happier to let people enjoy it's IP than to be obsessed with milking the consumer for every penny it can.
Re:Remember who's paying for this! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Pixar: Good movies, suck-ass company (Score:2)
Re:Remember who's paying for this! (Score:5, Insightful)
On an unrelated note, Global Business [bbc.co.uk] just started airing (and webcasting) the first episode of the 3-series programme about Russian business that I helped to make.
Re:Remember who's paying for this! (Score:2)
But those baloons and dancers do get annoying.
Re:Remember who's paying for this! (Score:2, Informative)
Yeah this is true, but at least programs do not have breaks in the middle. Films are ruined by ad breaks, and boy is the Simpsons better without 10 minutes of car-ads interspersed.
Also while it's true they advertise their own products, I would be rather miffed if they didn't adve
Bravo, BBC! (Score:5, Interesting)
What really pissed me off a couple of months ago was that they CHARGED ME MONEY (4 USD) for watching a 5-minute part rerun on the web. I sent them a big fuck you-mail and asked what the hell was going on with the property of the people. The broadcaster is owned by the state, ergo the public. No reply.
So kudos to the BBC, crap to NRK.
How far back the archives go (Score:5, Informative)
The BBC was founded in 1922. They broadcast radio only until 1936 when they started their first TV channel. A lot of cool stuff.
Just reading the short history article... (Score:5, Interesting)
Newsreader Bruce Belfrage was on air when 500lbs of explosives hit Broadcasting House in October 1940. He paused as he heard the bomb go off during his nine o'clock bulletin - but continued as normal, as he was not allowed to react on air because of security reasons. Seven people were killed.
Did this man have balls of steel or what?
Re:How far back the archives go (Score:3, Informative)
By the way, many of us Brits have pressured them to give us Ogg streams in the past and they even actually did so for a while but they have been very
Hitchhiker's guide!? (Score:5, Informative)
Everybody I know who heard those broadcasts agrees that it was the best HHGTG of all. I don't believe they've ever been released exactly as originally broadcast. Transcripts are available of those shows, but these miss the subtle music and audio effects that made the show really wonderful. I know I was disappointed with some audio tapes I purchased years later.
I've never been interested in ripping off Douglas Adams, or his family, by downloading mp3s that purport to be copies of the original show.
Re:Hitchhiker's guide!? (Score:5, Informative)
[fx: glances over at CD box sets of the two series, (c) BBC Worldwide 1996]
Er... excuse me?
Well, technically, you're right; I believe that there were some very minor changes; especially to the last couple of episodes which were recorded and mixed in a terrible hurry. But they are substantially as broadcast, and certainly what the original producers intended.
And if these CDs really aren't available where you are (which I suspect they are), I expect that at least some of the MP3s out there are from them. (Not that I'm condoning that kind of thing, of course...)
Re:Hitchhiker's guide!? (Score:3, Interesting)
I listened to the original radio shows, saw the TV series, have the LPs and saw the stage play at the Finsbury Rainbow and bought the books. That's 5 versions, all slightly (or not so slightly) different. IMNSHO the book(s) is(are) the weakest version with the radio version the best.
The stage play was suitably weird, with the book
Ai super cluster to do archive! (Score:5, Funny)
How will it work? (Score:5, Interesting)
The BBC appear to have sold the rights to many of their successful programs to other channels such as UK Gold. For more recent programs, they might not own the Internet rights to them if they have been made for the BBC by third party companies (I think this has stopped them from including some radio programs in thier existing (and very good) radio archive site. Also, what about international rights - I would guess there are many cases were the BBC have sold rights for brodcast in other contries to other broadcasters.
While I think this good be very good, I wouldn't be suprised if it is limited to clips that are more useful for research purposes (like news footage and small budget documenteries) than the big money programs.
Bandwidth? (Score:2, Insightful)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Score:2)
This is a smackdown on Murdoch (Score:5, Interesting)
* Forced auction of any good programs the BBC makes to Sky and ITV (Honestly!! Anything good should be reaped from where it was produced, and interrupted with reams of shite car adverts.)
* Enforced licence fee reductions
* Banned from buying US imports (24, Buffy, etc)
* All kinds of other random restrictions to make life easier for the bottom feeders at Newscorp.
The Sun and Times, Murdochs bought rags, have also been consistently ragging on about the bullshit Iraq dossier affair, in which a BBC journalist is accused of actually telling the truth.
This is the ultimate reply.
" Fuck with us, we'll bury your "Footballers Wives" and "Sex in trashy Greek holiday resorts" crap in 70 years of quality broadcasting!"
This is almost too good to be true. Have to see if Tony gets a call from Rupert, and poor old Greg Dyke gets his marching orders.
Great! (Score:5, Interesting)
The amount of historical material is mind boggling! I'll be eager to support once it is available. We should have more broadcast companies trying to give "public value." Heh. I honestly can't imagine a company in the U.S. doing something like this.
However, just to ponder, I remember reading that the BBC was getting a lot of flak for the suicide of David Kelly. I hope it's not too cynical to suggest that perhaps in some way, they are doing this to restore some of their image that may have been tarnished?
At any rate, this is definately a very magnanimous thing for the BBC to do, and I am glad to see it.
How will the BBC deal with RIAA artists. (Score:5, Interesting)
Will the RIAA go after the BBC for distributing their own recordings of someone else's material? Will they have to get permission from every artist they want to feature in their archive?
If an artist knows I am recording their performance and chooses to perform anyway, do they own the rights to distribution or do I?
I know they are dumb questions, but the mechanics of the ownership seem really confusing to me in an archive or library format.
Re:How will the BBC deal with RIAA artists. (Score:3)
Over the past couple of years, all new contracts for radio work have included explicit agreements for Internet distribution. The Beebs internet radio services are being heavily promoted in the UK.
The real problem is the use of Real formats
Re: (Score:2)
AWESOME, yet so many questions...? (Score:5, Interesting)
- How can it be determined whether the use is commercial or not? I assume they mean you can't re-distribute the content for profit, but what about using the material as research for books or other for-sale works?
- What will the RIAA say? Surely they won't just lie down while Beatles performances, John Peel Sessions [bbc.co.uk], and other huge cash cows are available for free.
- What will the MPAA say? Apologies for not having done my research, but surely there are DVDs for sale at Best Buy of content distributed by members of the MPAA?
- Will it only be material the BBC explicitly produced? Surely they, like other networks, have broadcast shows or footage that they didn't create.
- What formats will be used? This seems like a thorny issue. Many of the most popular formats have strings attached. With the hoo-ha surrounding proprietary image and sound recording formats, what's the best set of technologies to use?
- How long will it take to get the material online? It seems like this will be a never-ending project, with new content being created 24/7.
- What will the order of precedence be? Will it be FIFO, FILO, by popularity, by media type?
This is terribly exciting... I hope other media outlets follow suit.Re:AWESOME, yet so many questions...? (Score:3, Insightful)
What will the MPAA say?
Who gives a crap?
Hint: The last A stands for America. No matter what they may have you believe, neither of these organisations mean a thing outside of the USA.
Thankfully!!
Re:AWESOME, yet so many questions...? (Score:3, Insightful)
The UK is not in america so the RIAA and MPAA have very little say there . Plus its the BBC , they are the british broadcastin service . You f with them and you can bet if your company does any shady business practices everyone will know (not just the UK , thats the miracle of syndication
As for BBC produced , those will probably happen first and then any witch
Re:AWESOME, yet so many questions...? (Score:3, Informative)
there a goverment agency . If they are to be sued they must be sued under british law
On a side note british law (along with canadian law) imposes a mutch shorter period in witch a public agency must be challanged than that of an individual (its a couple of months
This is why we never should have revolted. (Score:2)
I think I speak for all of us when I say (Score:5, Insightful)
Free Vs. Pay (Score:2)
Having just paid >$80 CDN for the Blue Planet DVD set, I still feel that it is money well spent. The quality will be vastly superior to whatever is available online.
On that note, I'm still all about giving money to the BBC.
wow, just imagine... (Score:2)
I love the BBC (Score:5, Interesting)
Others have mentioned Dr Who, Black Adder and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Here are some other BBC classics, just a few favourites that spring to mind:
Period Drama: Elizabeth I; I, Claudius
Drama: Casualty
Comedy: Fawlty Towers; Steptoe and Son; Only Fools and Horses; One Foot in the Grave; Red Dwarf; Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The BBC is paid for by British taxes... (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's be fair: the cost of these fine productions (and let's not get into the nit-picks about cardboard sets and cheesy sci-fi aliens) has already been borne by the TV-tax paying British public. They got to see ad-free television produced by people who were willing to take artistic risks because the they weren't subject to the tyranny of the marketing department.
If this is your style, I suspect you'd like to support them in producing more of the like. I like the sci-fi and the some of the comedy the BBC produces. If I could have access to new productions, even if it was a year or so after the first run in England, I'd would be willing to pay for it.
I think this archive of older radio and TV is a fantastic idea, even if it's not in a portable format right now. Fair enough: if you getting it for free, you can't complain how you're getting it. If the BBC would like an extra revenue stream, earmarked to support risk-taking entertainment that might not be universally popular, but still take direct feedback from the public, rather than markerters, I'll find a way to convert a few US dollars to pounds sterling to support it.
So, a question for anyone who wants to take it on: What would be a good business model for the BBC to take, understanding that their mandate is to produce entertainment for the British public, to enable foreigners to have access, provide support and feedback without jeopardizing that mandate?
Re:The BBC is paid for by British taxes... (Score:3, Insightful)
So long as it doesn't cost extra to entertain non-brits it's not a problem for them. Also, one might argue that broadcasting british TV around the world is in the british interest, the more exposure you have to a culture the more likely it is you will visit / do business etc. etc.
Ponxx
and ended up with... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The BBC is paid for by British taxes... (Score:4, Insightful)
The BBC isn't (and never was) just for UK residents. It's always had a mandate to bring culture (as opposed to ignorance) to everyone in the world. Yeah, the Beeb has priorities, and maybe they'll throttle the bandwidth to non-UK clients, but charging? Nah. And as a license payer I wouldn't want them to.
While this idea might generate quite a bit of funding from the developed nations, it'd also block access from the developing nations, and it's the developing nations that would need this stuff the most. It's not just Blackadder and Dr. Who, there's a ton of educational material in the archives, including the Open University, that should be free to anyone with an internet connection (and a lot of patience).
Slashdotted from day one. (Score:3, Insightful)
But I guess we'll just have to see. If it hasn't been done already, we should write them and recommend Bittorrent, or perhaps find good mirroring sites.
Canadian Broadcast Corp. (CBC) archives online (Score:5, Informative)
Ownership (Score:3, Insightful)
The big question is what acutally consitutes the "BBC archive"? Is it everything that's ever been shown on the BBC, or is it only the in-house produced BBC programs?
To take an obvious example, The Simpsons, their definately not BBC property, so I doubt they'll be in the archive, neither will any of the other American imports (24, Buffy, Star Trek, etc.). But then, what about Blackadder? Surely that was made by the BBC? The rights to Blackadder are owned by Tiger productions (Rowan Atkinson's company), this includes the DVD rights for example. Will this be in the archive?
What about Monty Python, 'Allo 'Allo, Red Dwarf, Dr Who or Hitchhikers? A (non-authoritative ) Amazon check suggests that they are all distributed by BBC worldwide, which is the commerical arm of the BBC (and produces all of the commercial UK-* stations on Sky), but how many of these have additional rights? Red Dwarf (the book) is owned by Grant Naylor, Hitchhikers by Douglas Adams. How many books will get sold if these episodes are available for free?
There's also the digitising problem, It might not seem like it, but only in the last 5 years have any TV programs been digitally stored. And the BBC tend to lose things, they lost episodes of Dr Who for example (one is still missing I think), so how many of these archives will be complete?
I am truly hoping that most BBC aired programs will be there (you might have to wait for "The Office"?) but I have a horrible feeling it'll be an archive of Eastenders (bad bad soap opera), Casualty (no blood-n-guts E.R. clone) and Noel's house party (please god no).
--
What a time to be sitting on a Gigabit university network... :)
A dream come true. (Score:3, Insightful)
Although Blair is desperate to get rid of the BBC or to change its mandate to make it advertiser-funded (in no small part because it criticises "New Labour") any change made to the way the BBC operates or is funded would spell the end of one of the greatest organisations anywhere in the world.
The BBC can produce the programs they do, and report news in the way it does, because it answers to no-one. Not the UK government, not to sponsors, not to advertisers. It doesn't have to keep anyone happy. Think of this: How in-depth was the reporting of the M$ vs DoJ debacle on MSNBC? How in-depth was the reporting of AOHell's financial woes on CNN?
The BBC recently came under huge criticism for their claim that the UK's official government dossier on Iraq's WMD was "sexed up". In the viewer feedback section they had on this, at least half of the comments posted on the BBC's site were anti-BBC. Some were calling for it to be shutdown and disbanded. Can you imagine CNN doing the same?
I think the decision to open up their content archive to the public for free is truly wonderful. I think it also has business possibilities for the BBC. Would ISPs in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries get business from advertising a high-speed BBC content mirror? I think so. ISP pays the BBC to mirror their content = ISP gets more customers = BBC gets more money.
If the BBC's sale of DVDs and videos remained unchanged or even went up as a result, it would also put a final nail in the coffin of the MPAssA and RIAssA's arguments that: free download = doom, gloom, bankrupt artists = death of civilisation as we know it. The BBC has the might to compete with anyone on the world stage. Their public popularity is, and has been for many year, the envy of every other media company in existence. The RIAssA and MPAssA would not have a leg to stand on should the BBC come out in favour (backed up by figures, of course) of making content freely-available.
Now, where do I get that OC43 connection from?
Califorinia's worst nightmare. (Score:5, Funny)
"In particular, it will be about how public money can be combined with new digital technologies to transform everyone's lives."
Everywhere in hollywood, stars and middlemen, flunkies and directors, aging rockers and CEOs woke up screaming.
"No.. no, not the Internet! Don't put it ON the INTERNET AAAAHHHHHH, OUR CONTROL, OUR MARGINS! NO PEOPLE NEED USSSSSSSSSSSS!!"
You heartless British bastards.
Re:Three words: Ben Ny Hill!!! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I've had it the typos. (Score:2)
An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is to to put it's entire radio and television archive online, free for everyone, as the BBC Creative Archive." The article is a little thin on how far back these archives go, but regardless, this in a giantic amount of data, and to see it go online, and open to the public is very cool.
There are four mistakes I can see:
1. "to" is duplicated ("to to put")
2. "it's" should be "its" ("it's entire")
3. "in" should be "is" ("this in a")
4. "giant
Re:I've had it the typos. (Score:2)
I will gladly accept your citicism when you speak Greek as well as i speak English. Until that time i surely have the right to demand a properly typed article in an American News site.
Not to mention that i am a READER, not paid by Slashot to run the site.
Re:I've had it the typos. (Score:2)
Ok, how many levels of irony is this now?
Re:BBC Gnomes (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Future BBC Funding (Score:2, Informative)
Re:So how does this work? (Score:2)
Those in Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland pay the TV license as well!
The quality of stuff that is put up on the internet will probably not be broadcast quality. If PBS (or anyone else) wants to broadcast it, that is commerical use (and thus not covered) and it needs broadcast quality media.
Fawlty Towers (Score:2)