[CMA TV] BBC gears up for archive trial

[Michelle McGuire]

BBC gears up for archive trial
Geoff White
11:00am


The BBC will pilot an online archive service in Spring 2007 that will  
eventually give viewers access to more than a million hours of back- 
catalogue programmes and clips.

Ashley Highfield, director of technology and new media for the  
corporation, said a few hundred hours of programmes will be made  
available online next year, allowing viewers to search for programmes  
and compile their favourite clips.

"We hope to understand more about what the real costs of getting the  
stuff online would be," he told the Independent.

Around 300,000 hours of programmes, a quarter of the BBC's archive,  
has been digitised, and Highfield wants to see the rest made  
available, once the rights issues have been resolved.

Highfield also said the corporation's iPlayer – an online media  
player that will allow viewers to search for and watch programmes  
after transmission – will launch next spring. It had been expected to  
go live before the end of this year.

As part of last month's reshuffle of the BBC, Highfield's budget rose  
from £250m to £400m, and his staff increased from 850 to 1,500.


Source: www.broadcastnow.co.uk


Michelle McGuire
Editor, Airflash Magazine
Communications Officer
http://www.commedia.org.uk
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