[webcast-l] BBC plans commercial downloads service

[Michelle McGuire]

BBC plans commercial downloads service
Dan Wootton


The BBC will launch a commercial version of its online catch-up  
service, the iPlayer, whether or not the free offering is approved by  
the board of governors.

The commercial iPlayer, which will be run by the corporation’s  
commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, will let BBC website users in the UK  
download programmes from the Worldwide archive – but at a cost.

The free iPlayer, previously named MyBBCPlayer, will be the first BBC  
service to be subject to the Public Value Test, proposed in the white  
paper on the corporation’s future and expected to be completed within  
months. But Simon Danker, BBC Worldwide’s new director of digital  
media who was appointed this week, told Broadcast the commercial  
iPlayer would be able to go ahead regardless of the governors’  
decision, subject to an internal approval process. “It’s important  
for us to be out there making BBC programming available  
commercially,” he said.

Details of whether the commercial iPlayer will be integrated with the  
free service, and if so how, are still being worked out. Consumers  
are likely to be able to either pay to rent individual programmes or  
download-to-own entire series. Introducing advertising to the  
downloads could also be an option.

Danker, who hopes to launch the service this year, denied the move  
risks alienating consumers who expect to receive BBC content for  
free. “People have been used to buying BBC DVDs and paying for BBC  
programming that appears on channels like UKTV through subscription,”  
he said.


SOURCE: http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/


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