[webcast-l] BBC begins open-source streaming challenge

[Bill Best]

The BBC is quietly preparing a challenge to Microsoft and other 
companies jostling to reap revenues from video streams. It is developing 
code-decode (codec) software called Dirac [1] in an open-source project 
aimed at providing a royalty-free way to distribute video .

The sums at stake are potentially huge because the software industry 
insists on payment per viewer, per hour of encoded content. This 
contrasts with TV technology, for which viewers and broadcasters alike 
make a one-off royalties payment when they buy their equipment.

Tim Borer, manager of the Dirac project at the BBC's Kingswood Warren 
R&D lab, pointed out: 'Coding standards for video were always free and 
open. We have been broadcasting PAL TV in this country for decades. The 
standard has been available for anyone to use... If the BBC had to pay 
per hour of coding in PAL we would be in trouble.'

The cost of the Real Networks player used on the BBC site will become 
prohibitive as the number of users rises, Borer said. 'Ultimately we 
would like to support millions of users with streaming services. It is 
uneconomic to use a codec with a per-user licence.'

There is the technical hassle, too. 'You need a back channel from the 
media player right back to the server to audit how many channels are 
being played. That complicates the entire system.'

More:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040812/175/f06i1.html

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/dirac/overview.shtml