UK residents petition BBC to make new on-demand TV service cross-platform

People, please listen to the podcast at http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/news/archives/2007/02/bbc_backstage_p_1.html before you judge them too much. I was very much in the "wtf are they thinking" camp until I did. I still don't agree with them doing what they're doing, but you'll understand their reasoning at least and see why other similar media companies do the same. From what I gather, the BBC are likely to create their own cross platform DRM. This will almost certainly be open to some degree, so this could benefit everyone as other media companies may license it from the BBC.

OGG Vorbis has a DRM version that is cross platform from Windows to OSX to *nix, etc.

Since OGG Vorbis is open source and non-proprietary, this seems like a better choice. Real is proprietary and Mr Gates and Mr Jobs are holding on to their own DRM as tightly as possible. (Loss of lock-in would be bad for both of them.)

Sorry for the long one - but this isn't as straight forward as it seems

If you read the proposal and recent press release (sorry ran into limit of links that can be posted - but some other commentators have posted already) it appears that things are going in the right direction - however the time-scales and some the conclusions in the full documentation are quite concerning

Yes they have recommend platform agnostic however - they are talking a two year time scale for Apple/Linux support i.e. from the conclusions document
http://tinyurl.com/2v2cj6 (pdf)

'The Microsoft-based DRM strategy for seven-day TV catch-up over the internet
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. '

24 months in this industry is a long time, and too long for feature parity.

Also there were some statements within the initial document which were concerning also:

On Demand Document
http://tinyurl.com/2jux7e (pdf)

'We also note that the Microsoft-based strategy for rights management will limit usage.
Normally, we would expect BBC services to be universally available, as universal access to
BBC services is in the public interest. However, as set out above, other mainstream
technology platforms do not currently provide the appropriate security.'

Leading to me to believe they didn't actually consult anyone who actually knew a great deal about Mac technology. I'm not saying it would be easy to develop an equivalent player, just the impression that you can't because of lack of appropriate security is wrong.

Surely the best solution while not ideal from a dropped connection / offline option is to have a youtube style streaming site (with no download) where the content access can be controlled centrally but be universally accessible. Given how much media the BBC streams already the setup/overhead should be trivial compared to application/DRM development for Apple/Linux.

We should as the document mentions

'expect BBC services to be universally available, as universal access to BBC services is in the public interest.'

and AFAIK in the BBC's charter this is what they should be doing '

From the BBC's charter agreement Jan 07:


'12. Making the UK Public Services widely available
(1) The BBC must do all that is reasonably practicable to ensure that viewers, listeners and
other users (as the case may be) are able to access the UK Public Services that are
intended for them, or elements of their content, in a range of convenient and cost effective
ways which are available or might become available in the future. These could include
(for example) broadcasting, streaming or making content available on-demand, whether
by terrestrial, satellite, cable or broadband networks (fixed or wireless) or via the
internet. '

So in my view worth providing feedback on the Public Consultation: http://tinyurl.com/2esqs6

and also on the petition (as per link in main story)

Eh. RealPlayer should do the trick.

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...

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

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?

Certainly I think one of the most asked for features during the iMP trial was cross platform compatibility.

Sam

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

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