“The BBC must deliver an online TV catch-up service that lets users of all computers download programmes, the corporation’s regulators have said,” The BBC reports on itself.
“It comes after the BBC said a download service for Mac and Linux users was not 100% definite and would depend on cost,” The Beeb reports. “A spokesman for the BBC Trust said it had approved the iPlayer on the condition of ‘platform neutrality,’ including a download service. The BBC said it ‘had not ruled out’ a download system for non-Windows PCs. But, the corporation has promised video streaming for those platforms as well as Windows users by the end of 2007. It has also said it remains ‘committed to platform neutrality.'”
The Beeb reports, “When asked if offering just video streaming across all platforms would fulfil the BBC Trust’s terms of approval for iPlayer, a spokesman for the regulators said: ‘We required platform neutrality across downloads, streaming and cable [set-top boxes].'”
“On Monday, the BBC’s director of Future Media and Technology Ashley Highfield said: ‘We need to get the streaming service up and look at the ratio of consumption between the services and then we need to look long and hard at whether we build a download service for Mac and Linux.’ He added: ‘It comes down to cost per person and reach at the end of the day,'” The Beeb reports. “The BBC Trust spokesman added: ‘We would expect BBC management to come back to us if they are planning any changes to iPlayer.'”
“The BBC has said the problem in offering a cross-platform download service lies in protecting rights holders’ content,” The Beeb reports. “All downloaded video content from the BBC contains digital rights management (DRM) technology to prevent the programmes being copied and to ensure the content is only available for 30 days. The BBC says the DRM offered by Microsoft – which is not available for Linux and has not been licensed from Microsoft by Apple for Macs – is the only solution at present.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “AJK” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: It sounds like they got a few emails today!
I want an iPlayer for my Commodore 64!
So what if it displays in ASCII.
Simple solution. Shut down the Microsoft Streams. Tell Microsoft they won’t licence their technology if they don’t make it available on parity with Macs and Linux as on Windows.
I thought the emails would probably flood into the Trust but whether that was the cause of the Trust’s response or not I don’t know.
Credit to the Beeb for quickly publishing the Trust’s response.
“….is the only solution at present”
So if Apple implements movie rentals on the iTunes store, does that mean there might be another solution?
We are very much aware that without thinking about it we could have developed a system from the start that was platform neutral. It’s just that we are British, not Americans. We don’t live and breathe technology like you yanks, so when this big bald guy showed up with a solution, we took it. At first we weren’t sure, but he threw a chair at us and it really frightened us so we did what he told us.
The Beeb may have to come to a deal which provides information to Apple for onward transmission to consumers.
Apple haven’t shared their DRM tech and I don’t think the Beeb market – which doesn’t have a revenue stream attached – is big enough for Apple to cry about missing from the mac platform
“The BBC says the DRM offered by Microsoft – which is not available for Linux and has not been licensed from Microsoft by Apple for Macs – is the only solution at present.”
Why should Apple have to license Microsoft’s DRM? Surely it would have been up to MS to actually keep WMP in development for Mac long with their DRM.
I can understand that DRM may be necessary for the downloads and it’s just a pitty Apple didn’t provide their own solution.
@Piot
The BBC is not charging for streamed or download content in the UK so I don’t think iTunes movie rentals would be relevant.
“the DRM offered by Microsoft – which is not available for Linux and has not been licensed from Microsoft by Apple for Macs”
So the reason Microsoft haven’t made their DRM compatible with Macs is that Apple haven’t licensed it? Did Microsoft have to license FairPlay to get iTunes on Windows? I doubt it.
MICROS**T’S DRM STRIKES AGAIN
MDN Magic Word; Money.
Need I say more?
I sent this to the BBC Trust:
I believe that the BBC is discriminating against users of Operating Systems other than Windows, e.g. Apple Mac OS X and the various Unix flavours.
Ashley Highfield is reported to have said ‘We need to get the streaming service up and look at the ratio of consumption between the services and then we need to look long and hard at whether we build a download service for Mac and Linux… It comes down to cost per person and reach at the end of the day… We are not ruling it out. But we are not committing to it at this stage.’
As a licence payer, the BBC should provide a broadly equal service to all licencees, and it should not be based on cost per person.
I have a suspicious feeling that the BBC courted Mr Gates far too strongly on his recent visit to the UK – “fawning” is the word that springs to mind.
It is “consumer market sales share” that should be of interest to the BBC, not total market sales share which includes bulk sales of PCs to big commercial enterprises.
The consumer market share of Linux and OS X is probably in excess of 20%.
Also, recent statistics show that Apple’s growth in sales, particularly of laptops, is about twice that of other computer suppliers.
These statistics are readily available on the web. There are also published market statistics which show that Apple Mac users tend to have more disposable income. How do the BBC plan to build that into whatever economic modelling they are using.
Basically, there should be no discrimination!
Economic modelling implies discrimination and that is not in the BBC’s Charter.
The BBC should look to the future which may see a considerable shrinkage in the domestic market share for Windows based PCs.
Yours sincerely
John Crawford
If the BBC want DRM then it should develop the DRM for H.264 media. The BBC should used standards and where standards do not exist, create one.
attn: webmaster
where is the damn print command on your website?!
when readers want to save a web page, many prefer to use the print command in order to strip out all the non-editorial content so that the serach-space for resulting file is not polluted with extraneous keywords (from navbars, adverts etc).
please install a print command (and please do NOT use javascript to implement it! … simple css3/xhmtl2 will be sufficient – or even html5 … many readers prefer to browse with javascript & actionscript turned off because they are usually buggy and slow).
M.X.N.T.4.1. made an excellent point. iTunes puts mac DRM on a windows machine, thus its the only true cross-platform solution. Technically (or politically), microsoft doesn’t want to make a drm solution and that is absurd. A wmv file can be wrapped in a DRM jacket, then timed via the flip4mac plug in in quicktime. This is the solutution and the problem, microsoft has wmv, their proprietary standard, but its probably the fact they want to push windows media player above quicktime player, or any other 3rd party one. Brb . . . Ok, I just tested it, and you can play a drmed itunes video in quicktime player, you don’t need iTunes except to download and authorize. Someone please let me know if the same applies in windows. If so, present the case to the BBC, that mac Fairplay DRM is truly cross-platform, and a solution exists. The BBC could have videos play through iTunes in a free, subscribable, podcast type of way, it would be fully DRM, but not timed (at this point) and since most people use ipods/iTunes anyway, its not that inconvenient. All the kinks have already been worked out on Apples end, the videos only need to be uploaded, and, it brings tremendous growth to the BBC by playing on iTunes, iTV, ipods, and the iphone.
I want a Beeb iPlayer from my Archimedes.
The naive arrogance of Ashley Highfield is quite stunning.
I completed the BBC Trust’s consultation document on the BBC’s VoD playback plans back in the Spring/Summer (not that we had a summer) and the Trust obviously understands that the iTunes Store or its ‘competitors’ might turn out to be a viable distribution mechanism for BBC content.
In reality, the iTunes Store (or its ‘competitors’) might turn out to be the only INTELLIGENT distribution system for the content in question; theoretically, the content offered by the BBC should be free only to UK-based subscribers whilst ‘foreign’ users should pay for their “rental” – iTS and others all have mechanisms for differential pricing and protection of content as well as links into portable players. And it’s worth remembering that the most popular portable media platform is the iPod/iPhone.
John Crawford’s arguments above are all well made and, in reality, he probably undersells the penetration of the Macintosh.
The problem with all so-called ‘market share’ data in this market is that it fundamentally ignores the fact that there are several ‘markets’ (corporate, education, consumer) and that the corporate market data has historically distorted the de facto domination of Windows in the overall market.
The reality, as personal computer ownership becomes pervasive to the point of multiple computers in each home, is that the “user-chooser” consumer is (at the ‘discerning’ high-end) now choosing the Macintosh at hitherto unseen levels with recent market analysis reports suggesting that the MacBook Pro has a 40%+ share of the premium laptop market.
For the BBC to ignore that type of demographic, which – coincidentally – contains many of the BBC’s freelance writers, producers, directors and technicians not to mention BBC News journalists like Rory Cellan-Jones (surely a candidate for Most Ironic Macintosh User – Lifetime Achievement Award considering his somewhat fawning coverage of Microsoft generally and Windows Vista and Bill Gates specifically) would be one of the most bizarre commercial decisions since some muppet at Decca Records rejected four boys from Liverpool.
“since some muppet at Decca Records rejected four boys from Liverpool.”
ya gotta just love the Brits and their sense of understatement – it’s classic.
The BBC is pointing out what the rest of the world knows. With 2%-3% worldwide share the Mac platform is irrelevant. Anyone with a Mac can just fire up Windows and watch the content anyway.
Irrelevant…
Anyone with a Mac can just fire up Windows and watch the content anyway.
Assuming that…
a) They’re running an Intel-based Macintosh
b) That they want to spend the money on the relevant software (Windows on its own or in concert with Parallels/VMWare).
Tell me, why should Macintosh users pay a Windows “tax” to Microsoft merely so that they can achieve parity with Windows mouth-breathers.
And, whilst it’s a nice attempt at promoting the 3% myth, that figure is a) based on the whole computing world [including the developing markets of China and India] as opposed to the UK – which is the only ‘market’ that should interest Mr. Highfield – and that b) the figure includes the tens of thousands of machines purchased by the corporate world which will never be allowed to access this service [without somebody getting fired].
what about Real ? Don’t they have a cross-platform DRM solution ? RealPlayer exists for both Windows and MacOS X.
What about a simple YouTube Flash Video approach. They are cross platform, they play everywhere.
Note to BBC: You don’t need DRM. It’s a myth wrapped in a conundrum, stuffed in a dildo and shoved up everyone’s collective ass.
Problem solved……
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22600517-15306,00.html
Note to BBC PS: Hire project directors that know how to create solutions rather than just purchase them.
What makes you think APPLE did not offer their solution.
In my opinion, APPLE has the only solution as it WORKS on 2 to 3 platforms. OSX, XP/Vista, possible Linux.
Apple’s DRM is SO GOOD – this is why the Music World and customers who like to have DRM-free media are fighting to get APPLE to remove it.
Where the MUSIC industry has failed the FILM industry is doing better… in terms of protecting their property.
Whatever why you look at it. Apple does CLEARLY have a solution.
THE real question here is why the BBC went with Microsoft?
Money or Stupidity or perhaps they were fooled into the agreement.