UK residents petition BBC to make new on-demand TV service cross-platform
This one goes out to all the UK TUAW readers in the audience: apparently, the BBC is planning to launch a smashing new on-demand, online TV service. Everything sounds super-duper until the minor detail of being Windows-only. This of course ruffles more than a few feathers, especially since the BBC purports to provide "services for everyone, free of commercial interests and political bias," so residents have created a petition to help the BBC see the error of their ways. The petition is open to UK residents only, and August 20th, 2007 is the deadline for joining the fight.While I don't have many details on why exactly the BBC has gone Windows-only with this online venture (for now), my first guess is that they're using Microsoft's DRM. Hopefully, with the DRM discussion finally rising up the ranks to those who
Thanks Graham
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mark said 12:52PM on 2-25-2007
I thought about creating a web site that named and shamed all companies and organisations that did not properly support the Mac (Safari).
Mark
http://www.metphoto.net/
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Fraser Drew said 12:59PM on 2-25-2007
Signed here!!
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Rob said 1:01PM on 2-25-2007
That petition will get deleted as the PM petitions site is for petitions that are within the control of the Prime Minister, if they aren't or are for humorous value, they are deleted.
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Matt J said 1:11PM on 2-25-2007
This is old, and besides, the Beeb has alread said it will only allow a 'platform agnostic' player.
http://www.ukfree.tv/fullstory.php?storyid=1107051202
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Elliot said 1:20PM on 2-25-2007
A friend of mine, whose mother works high up in the BBC, told me that it will be developed for OS X as well as Windows. But that was before this story came out.
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Fraser Drew said 1:28PM on 2-25-2007
This is (in theory) within the PM's control, as the BBC is a publicly owned TV station, and is therefore funded by the public treasury. This means that the government has some control over what the BBC can and cannot do.
If i'm wrong, at least it should raise the issue, as i;ve never seen this issue meet the main press YET.
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Chris said 1:42PM on 2-25-2007
That is false. The government has no editorial or management control over BBC output, and it is not funded by the treasury. The BBC is responsible for it's own licence administration under a subdivision named the Licensing Authority - This is then subcontracted to various companies who collect and enforce the fee.
The government only controls the BBC's remit, by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and OFCOM, which sets out what we, the public, have the right to expect from the BBC, and how much money the BBC is allowed to collect in the form of the licence fee to fund it's self.
Therefore, Blair cannot directly influence the BBC into making a decision regarding its output. I'm sure however, pressure can be applied, although if this is the case, it raises ethical questions.
I'd like to see an OS X client, but I'm not holding my breathe.
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John Stone said 1:55PM on 2-25-2007
The BBC Trust (the BBC Governors) are curently consulting about the BBC's on demand services. So not only sign the petition but also go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open_consultations/ondemand_services.html
and express your views.
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Phil said 2:11PM on 2-25-2007
The BBC player will just be the latest in a string of players that aren't compatible with OSX - already we have BT vision, 4OD and others that use Windows DRM.
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Steven G said 2:36PM on 2-25-2007
no 9:
True, but 'thanks to the unique way it is funded' the BBC SHOULD do better.
Channel 4 and BT are both disappointing but they are not in the same situation as the BBC. As a licence payer I have paid for the content and see no need for DRM.......
Steven
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Si said 2:54PM on 2-25-2007
This has already caused a bit of a stir in the UK. I for one don't want my license fee to fund Windows only software. The latest is that the player is going to be cross-platform, but thats only been made a consideration so far and not confirmed. Definitely fill out the form on the Beeb's site as well as this petition. And bear in mind that even though the government (and therefore the PM) don't have editorial control over the BBC, this is about content delivery, not the content itself.
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Emmanuel said 2:59PM on 2-25-2007
Unfortunately, the BBC are not the only one to choose Microsoft DRM.
In France/Germany, ARTE VOD has been following the same evil path for a while: http://www.artevod.com/help.do#16 / http://www.artevod.com/homeDeutsch.do
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Mr Lizard said 3:02PM on 2-25-2007
As the BBC has a remit to ensure it is not commercially biased, it has to make the content available to OS X and Linux, or it breaks this remit.
What's interesting here is how they will go about this.
The current plan of using Windows DRM does not fit within this remit, as Microsoft does not make it available to other operating systems.
They cannot use Apple's Fairplay, as Apple do not make it available to other companies.
As far as I am aware, there is no 'uniform' DRM solution that works across all platforms, therefore the BBC would have to create their own.
I can imagine this would be very expensive. If they succeed, however, then it would be the first (that I am aware of) cross platform DRM solution outside of Fairplay (which is OS X and Windows only)
Another possible solution could be hosting the programmes on their server, and simply limiting access to the programmes. I'm not sure if this is completely secure though. YouTube and Google videos can be 'extracted' from the website very easily using third party apps (MPEG Streamclip comes to mind, however there are others).
Whichever route the BBC takes, it will be interesting to see what happens if they choose to lock out those not using Windows.
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Petros Kolyvas said 3:18PM on 2-25-2007
Uh, the BBC put up a podcast specifically dealing with this issue since it's such a polarizing one:
http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/news/archives/2007/02/bbc_backstage_p_1.html
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Sam said 4:20PM on 2-25-2007
I was under the impression that it was only the trial service, the iMP, that used Microsoft DRM as a quick way of getting a large number of users testing the infrastructure of the service. Certainly all the newspaper articles I have read about the BBC Trust's review of the iplayer mention that it will have to be platform agnostic - unless something recent has come up, I suppose.
Sam
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Sam said 4:21PM on 2-25-2007
Certainly I think one of the most asked for features during the iMP trial was cross platform compatibility.
Sam
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Matt said 4:37PM on 2-25-2007
Si; you wrote:
11. This has already caused a bit of a stir in the UK. I for one don't want my license fee to fund Windows only software.
What about the people that own no computer but still pay their licence fee?
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Thwomp said 4:45PM on 2-25-2007
Don't waste your time, this isn't an issue! Here's one of the changes the BBC Trust wants:
"The BBC Executive proposes a digital rights management solution which would require
consumers to be using Windows XP (or above) and Windows Media Player 10 (or above) to
be able to access seven-day TV catch-up over the internet. The PVA noted that we would
expect the BBC to adopt a platform-agnostic approach. The MIA also identified benefits to a
platform-agnostic approach"
"We propose to require the BBC Executive to adopt a platform-agnostic approach to rights
management within a reasonable timeframe. The MIA notes an expectation that the BBC
Executive plans to develop a Real Player alternative in the near future. Our understanding is
that the BBC Executive aspires to offer an alternative DRM framework, which would enable
Apple and Linux users to access the service, but has yet to identify a satisfactory solution. In
either case, we will expect this to have been addressed within 24 months"
Quoted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/review_report_research/pvt_iplayer/iplayer_pvt_provisional_conclusions.pdf
Also if you really want to make a difference the BBC is holding a public consultation for its on-demand plans:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open_consultations/ondemand_services.html
Thwomp
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Neil Cochrane said 5:01PM on 2-25-2007
I beta tested this service about a year ago when it was called BBC iMP. I had to run it on my PC and the service, while pretty clever, was crippled by the DRM.
Every time you wanted to watch something it had to connect to the internet, dial into the server, and check to see if 7 days had passed since it was broadcast and then left a pretty big file sitting on your hard drive.
It used P2P which is promicing for a large corperation but windows media player let it down. During development the Q&A always said that it would support the iPod once complete, not just windows mobile platfrom. And yeah, they said it'd work on the mac...
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mcuk said 6:10PM on 2-25-2007
This was identified as an issue by Ofcom in its Market Impact Assessment of the BBC's proposals. The BBC Trust draws on the MIA in its Public Value Test which will determine what the BBC can and cannot do:
"We propose to require the BBC Executive to adopt a platform-agnostic approach to rights
management within a reasonable timeframe. The MIA notes an expectation that the BBC
Executive plans to develop a Real Player alternative in the near future. Our understanding is
that the BBC Executive aspires to offer an alternative DRM framework, which would enable
Apple and Linux users to access the service, but has yet to identify a satisfactory solution. In
either case, we will expect this to have been addressed within 24 months."
So a Real version should be on the way.
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