[CMA TV] BBC Reveals Plans for 5, 000-Consumer Trial of Interactive Media Player

[Chris Hewson]

>From ITVT Issue 6.06 Part 2 | June 7, 2005

BBC Reveals Plans for 5,000-Consumer Trial of Interactive Media Player

The BBC has announced plans for a major consumer trial of its Interactive 
Media Player (IMP), a service that will allow UK viewers to download TV and 
radio programs from the corporation's Web site to their PC or laptop. The 
service will use DRM software to delete programs from consumers' hard drives 
seven days after their broadcast, and to prevent consumers sharing programs 
via email or disk transfer; it will use peer-to-peer technology to 
distribute content, and Geo-IP technology to restrict access to the service 
to consumers with UK IP addresses.

The trial, which will begin in September and which will last three months, 
will be used to assess the impact of the service on the commercial broadcast 
market and to determine which kinds of shows prove most popular with viewers 
when available on-demand. It follows a technical trial which took place last 
summer with a limited number of participants and a small amount of 
rights-cleared programming. It will provide its 5,000 participants with 
around 190 hours of TV programming, and around 310 hours of radio 
programming, as well as local programming and rights-cleared films. 
Participants will be able to search for programming, filter programs by 
channel, select subtitles, and, in the case of certain series, collect and 
watch episodes they may have otherwise missed. Siemens Business Services, 
BBC Broadcast, and Kontiki will provide the BBC with the service's technical 
and playout elements. 


	
	
		
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