“The BBC Trust has given the go-ahead to the corporation’s iPlayer on-demand service, but with a number of changes including some proposed by media watchdog Ofcom,” MarketingWeek reports.
MarketingWeek reports, “Diane Coyle, the BBC Trust member who chairs the public value test steering group, says: ‘Our view is that the BBC’s new on-demand services are likely to deliver significant public value, and should be allowed to proceed, but subject to certain conditions in order to reduce the potential negative market impact.'”
“BBC management has been asked to ensure that the on-demand TV services work on all computer operating systems, not just Microsoft’s Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10,” MarketingWeek reports.
MarketingWeek reports, “The Trust’s proposals will go to further consultation, with a March 28 deadline for submissions. A final decision is expected in May.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “John D.” for the heads up.]
Bravo! Now, let’s see if they actually do it.
Take part in the public consultation (takes about 5-minutes): http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open-consultations/ondemand_services.html
[UPDATED: February 1, 2007: 8:45am.]
look morons UK has been Apple’s most loyal market outside of north America.
> …if the BBC does not make their product cross platform compatible, there will be an out cry from Mac users around the globe who do choose to listen/watch the BBC online…
I stopped watching them. I mean, RealPlayer, how lame is that? I avoid Real by choice.
Market share ≠ standard.
The internet is for everybody. It is not a platform for Microsoft’s mediocrity, or even Apple’s superiority, but a mechanism to deliver information & content based on independent, industry-approved standards.
@ How To Ensure…
Thanks for drawing our attention to this. I completed the BBC Trust’s survey, and I join you in urging others to do the same.
“Click Online makes Balamory look like Newsnight”
@Randian
As a Pommie and an Aussie i take umbrage to your remarks about “Englanders”. I am also totally confused by your post in regard to the
“…”think just the same as everybody else,” a philosophy with which Englanders have always been comfortable. Remember, “The Communist Manifesto,” “Brave New World” and “1984” were written for citizens of the Sceptered Isle, not–NOT–those of the New World”
Well you are right about Brave New World, Huxley wrote that with America and Americanization as one of its underlying tenets.
Still, my head is spinning with discombobulated concern for your mental health and well-being. How on earth do you correlate and delineate the Communist Manifesto to England and the English, besides the name of one of the authors being Friedrich Engels but he was German not an Engelander… True, Friedrich was concerned with the shocking conditions of the working class people in Manchester (Mancunians) and Manchester being the worlds fist industrialized city, his thoughts would have been right.
You mention two books – Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four, two novels commonly seen as as the dystopian models in literature. Put simply they are both celebrated for – Watch out people, coz Big Brother is bad news for everyone(much like the tv show is).
Beware Randian with your solipsistic views the “Ministry of Love” might be on the lookout for you.
Unless you postulate that :-
WAR IS PEACE.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
Do you?
@ How To Ensure… and @Brit. I agree. If we want to be heard and to be taken into consideration then every Mac lover should complete the BBC Trust’s survey, these new – On demand services to be offered by the BBC can only be beneficial to everyone in the long term. If you want to bring the Microsoft walls down within the BBC then speak up – fight from the inside, we have been given the chance. The BBC Trust are doing their best to make it happen and to ensure a level playing field for everyone.
As an Apple Mac user my main concern is connectivity and accessibility. People who do not use Microsoft software should not be discriminated against. The capability and proficiency of the framework should be bipartisan. Freedom of access for all is a vital element of knowledge. Options yield and augment the right, power and freedom of choice, i feel that the freedom of choice should be fostered and encouraged in the iPlayer framework.
Apple inc’s market share has seen exponential growth since OSX and the transition to the Intel x86 chip-set and IMHO this growth is set to continue with the release of the new operating system, Leopard 10.5 the millions of new Mac users should not be discriminated against due to their choice of operating system.
@ How To Ensure… @Brit …@ SKY LARK:
I too agree. Forget about whether the BBC is left/liberal or whatever, just think of its global reach. This is a major international broadcaster that has the power to influence technical standards not only in the UK but also elsewhere.
If you want to be taken seriously, then fill in the questionnaire with REASONED comments. Otherwise MS will simply win by default.
My own view is increasingly that Apple should make some concessions to licensing FairPlay. If they don’t they are handing the wider market to MS on a plate. Fine iTunes is a nice shop, but why buy Apple TV if everything else needs WMP? May as well just buy the one box- a Windows Media Centre. It’s “good enough”.
Ive written to bbc several times requesting that there media be playable on a mac, preferably Quicktime. yes they have real player but it sucks.
Why not offer Win media player and Quicktime? This is just normal video content Im talking about.
Their response was that they had to consider the wider audience. Thats their attitude, that mac users arn’t worth a shit. Yes some of the tech guys working for the BBC may use macs, I dont doubt they do, but what about the people that visit their website, and pay their bills?
On another general point, why is the color used on the BBC so grey? It’s all so unsaturated, it’s like they don’t want people to enjoy watching it. To be honest It just looks washed-out and 1970’s compared to american TV.
Their news programs ramble on, and on, and on about boring sh*t for hours on end, with no conclusion, it really is english mentality and it’s best.
re: randian.
I agree, ron. Nothing about the “Beeb” or England as a whole is Mac friendly. After all, Apple represents individual choice and the freedom to “think different.” Microsoft represents “think just the same as everybody else,” a philosophy with which Englanders have always been comfortable. Remember, “The Communist Manifesto,” “Brave New World” and “1984” were written for citizens of the Sceptered Isle, not–NOT–those of the New World.
The BBC Trust will NEVER assent to Mac-inclusion. NEVER.
—–
Comments from someone who has never lived in england…
Hey, folks, I’m living in Maryland, USA, and was born and raised in Texas.
But I want you to know that I have great respect for the British and regret the negative comments here from misinformed and ignorant countrymen of mine.
This is a tech site, mainly devoted to the Mac community and things that impact that community. Regretfully, there are a few ignorant and uncultured idiots that cannot carry a decent discussion and wouldn’t know logic if it bit them where they sit. Therefor, you often see stupid comments with inappropriate political barbs(from both sides of the political spectrum) where it does nothing but show the ignorance and idiocy of the poster.
For that, and on behalf of my countrymen (whether they want me to or not!) I apologize. There are good reasons why Britain and the US remain solid allies, despite our often wide political differences domestically.
I hope it stays that way for a good long time.
I completed the questionnaire as soon as I saw a reference to it on MacWorld’s UK site.
I hope all other licence payers do the same.
I chose to stress that it would discriminate against a significant and growing percentage of the viewing public given that Apple’s share of the consumer market could be between 10% and 16%.
Thanks, Rahrens!
Can I point out that the BBC will only be interested in the views of British TV license payers. It won’t be very helpful if millions of enthusiastic American Mac fans swamp the site as it would look like there’s some sort of on-line campaign, which might reduce the impact of the points that have already been made by the UK Mac community.
I would most certainly encourage any UK residents to respond and to make their views known ( postcode is required for registration ).
Look like Brits are second in line to Americans regarding knowledge of their own countries.
be you mean Britain not England as England is part of the island of Great Britain.
Great Britain is not an island, you silly old git, the British Isles are, and it isn’t “great” because it has nuclear subs but no central heating. “Great” is merely a term for the union of separate kingdoms, soon to be reversed, anyway. When it is, Britain legitimately could be called Once-Great Britain, as it is now, outside of polite society; that is, everywhere but in “Great” Britain.
I’m guessing you’re American Judging by your ignorance.
I know you’re a Brit because you are incapable of constructing a grammatical, syntactically sound sentence.
As for us not being prepared to think different, I suppose that’s why we seem to lead the world when it comes to inventions and design etc which tend to require people to think different.
Right. Like the Newcomen engine. Nothing since 1711, though.
The British Isles are islands – plural you silly git. Great Britain is the collective name for England, Scotland and Wales (the whole is an island). I think that you are referring to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its full title.
The “Great” in Great Britain is a reference to its size compared to what is now called Brittany and was coined by the Romans.
Before bashing people about getting facts straight you might want to check your own.
I’m getting fed up with the attitude of some of the Americans on the Internet these days. Whatever problem you might have with the BBC (I’m not saying they are perfect) try to avoid tarring the whole nation with the same brush. As was pointed out above, we are supposed to be allies.
Also worth noting that the LCD display was invented by Brits :p
I did that Google and found nothing but a bunch of ridiculous blogs, and nowhere where the BBC “admits anti-Israel bias”.
BBC does not “buy its news from a middle east news service” they have their own correspondents in the regions. Frankly the bias you see if actually your own. Rather like viewers of Fox News seeing Liberal bias in everything because they are so used to everything being so Right wing slanted. I fear you are used to American media where everything Israel does is 100% great and fine and nothing to complain about. The BBC reports on the reality of the Israel/Palestine conflict as not being entirely one sided “good verses evil, and this is what you see as “anti-Isreal”.
Also worth noting that the LCD display was invented by Brits :p
Wrong, says about:Inventors. The original was invented by an American. The improved version was, too.
I’ve told the Beeb to adopt the QuickTime 7 (H.264) standard they’ve used for the BBC Motion Gallery. (http://www.bbcmotiongallery.com/) It’s about as good as you can get anywhere for Streaming Media, and it’s cross-platform, so it should be a snip to do it as downloadable files. They’ve got the technology there, and you don’t need an iPlayer or whatever.
I went ahead and participated in the questionnaire. If anyone is interested in seeing my answers, they can be viewed here.
Here here, the BBC’s motion gallery is fantastic and should be how BBC content be formatted for streaming all other material.
On the subject of licence fees, which I am one, by law, I am still trying to find a place where I can pick a free copy of the Blue Planet on DVD.
After all I’ve already paid for the series to have been made and so I should be able to simply ask for a free copy of the entire series on DVD.
Trivia, if you’re over 75 and living in the UK then you don’t have to pay a licence fee at all, its free to those whose homes has a person of that age or higher living there.