BBC iPlayer could be improved say BBC

The service could provide a superior streaming service using targeted rolling content said John Tate, BBC director of policy and strategy.

Speaking at a recent Westminster Media Forum,  he said, “The service is not currently taking full advantage of usage data to provide a more tailored experience. Currently, watching to the end of a show on iPlayer simply brings up a prompt to replay the content, as opposed to broadcast TV, where programmes are followed directly by new shows that are appropriate to the audience and timeslot.”

Mr Tate further added “This is one way in which video-on-demand (VoD) is still “playing catch-up” to regular TV, suggesting the introduction of targeted rolling options on iPlayer could offer various benefits. Why should you have to click play when you go to an online or VoD experience? Why shouldn’t there be some continuity or rolling element to that too?”

The BBC iPlayer set a new record of almost two billion requests for programmes during 2011 and enjoyed record viewing figures in December 11.  The iPlayer service is also set to debut on the Sky Anytime+ satellite service.

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A survey (conducted by NatCen Social) that formed part of a report entitled Serving All Ages (organised by the BBC’s ‘Creative Diversity Network’) gave a headline statistic that 40% of ‘young people’ questioned were unhappy at the portrayal of young adults on TV shows. Meanwhile, ‘older women’ interviewed believed that it was more a case that there is a lack of presenters and personalities ‘like them’ on-air, especially in prime-time situations.

This outburst follows on from a legal case made in January 2011 against the BBC, when then 53-year-old Miriam O’Reilly (pictured) successfully sued the public broadcaster when they sacked her from presenting Countryfile (a rural affairs-based magazine show) in favour of younger hosts (in what was dubbed a case of ‘ageist’ discrimination) as the show moved to a more prime-time slot.

The report would note the widespread feeling that there is a lack of ‘middle-aged and older women’ on TV’, and while young people were represented enough (probably more), it was most often in a manner that was ‘unduly negative’ and showed them as ‘disrespectful and unproductive’.

The report stated: “This portrayal [of young people] is also perceived to result in potentially negative consequences for young people and can contribute to distrust between generations. It is also felt to risk creating unrealistic expectations and unattainable goals for young people. There is [also] some concern about the way different ages are sometimes at best presented as slightly humorous but exaggerated caricatures, and at worst as negative stereotypes.”

It was thought that while the main issue with middle-aged women was not their portrayal, stereotypes of older people (as ‘stubborn-ness’ and ‘moaning’) were still claimed by interviewees as being used too often, while the small number of people on TV screens fitting the demographic was a problem that 40% of participants (in all ages and genders).

The BBC’s director general Mark Thompson, who is also in charge of the ’Cultural Diversity Network’, said of the matter: “There are lessons here for the BBC and the rest of Britain’s broadcasters. It is young people who are most concerned with the way they are portrayed and we need to look at this. But we should also note the concern, expressed by older people generally, about the need for greater visibility for older women. While of course there are many older women presenters and actors across our airwaves, this is something that needs to be addressed.”

Miriam O’Reilly herself is naturally an advocate for more women in her age range to be on-screen, as she recently stated: “There is an entrenched view in television that viewers only want to see young faces. It is an outdated notion. Viewers want to see all ages represented. This report is a clear message to programme makers and they have to start listening. Since I won my ageism claim against the BBC there has been an acceleration in the number of older women on TV, but we are only seeing a token amount in primetime and we have got to see more.”

Will changes be forced to be made to the system for both of the problems found, or is it just a long-standing nature of the entertainment business (young faces and the most ‘interesting’ situations), that cannot be altered for anyone?

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Later this year BBC’s iPlayer will become accessible to Sky customers on their home TV sets. Using BBC’s iPlayer, viewers can catch-up on BBC programmes in the familiar iPlayer experience that they may have missed.

To access the BBC catch-up TV service, users will need a broadband connection and access to the AnyTime Plus internet TV service. Viewers will also be able to use the ITV vod service, ITV Player from today.

The BBC’s goal is to reach all viewers it can, so with Sky’s plan to bring its Anytime+ to customers regardless of who their internet provider is, is a major development in helping to bring BBC iPlayer to around 5 million new homes in 2012 and at no extra charge.

This deal builds on seeing the BBC’s iPlayer on platforms like Virgin Media, BT Vision, FreeSat, Freeview, PlayStation, Wii, along with mobile phones, tablets, and Internet connected TV’s. Launching on Sky Anytime+ rounds off the picture in which BBC’s iPlayer is available on pretty much all major UK TV platforms.

The BBC Director General Mark Thompson said “Having the BBC and Sky work together to further build on the BBC iPlayer success story can only be fantastic news for audiences. Making BBC iPlayer available on all platforms is key to our commitment to universal access and this agreement takes us one step further towards that goal. I’m delighted to take this first step on a story of innovation for both organisations.”

Sky’s Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch, added “Sky Anytime+ will go from strength to strength in 2012 and we are delighted that the addition of BBC iPlayer will allow Sky customers to enjoy the best of the BBC whenever they want.”

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It is thought that the network have commissioned Brian Bradley and Steven Cragg (writers of Scrubs) to produce a pilot of the classic format, raiding the BBC’s archive for a show that premiered in 1981 (over 30 years ago), and lasted for 7 seasons through to 1991, showing its final episode (a Christmas specials) in 2003.

While it is currently unknown just how close the BBC One sitcom will be imitated by ABC (such as the names of main characters Del Boy and Rodney, and their company ’Trotters Independent Trading’), the basic premise is thought to be a good match, as they describe a soon to-be-produced American pilot episode as: ”…the misadventures of two streetwise brothers and their ageing grandfather as they concoct outrageous, morally questionable get-rich-quick schemes in a bid to become millionaires”.

Only Fools and Horses will not be the first UK-made series to be given a US re-production, as proven by more recent attempts such as E4 comedy The Inbetweeners (remade for MTV), singing contest X Factor (Fox), and Ricky Gervais’ sitcom The Office (NBC). While a number of formats have tried and failed in the USA, will this one manage to find success?

It is a former star of one of the more successful remakes, Steve Carell (The Office USA) who has given his initial support to the plans, having previously stated his desire to star in a remake as lead character ‘Del Boy’, saying: “That is my dream role. The British do sitcoms better than anybody else in the world. I think with the right scriptwriters and cast we could do Only Fools and Horses justice. If anybody wants to help me do a remake, I’d love it.”

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The singing competition is open to entries from all eligible member nations of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an organisation that allows national public broadcasters to reach common goals and innovations in TV technology.

The main outlet of this is Eurovision, which has been ongoing since 1956 and broadcast free-to-air through all members (as well as online), and was last year won by Azerbaijani duet Ell & Nikki in Dusseldorf (Germany), with their country’s prize being to host the next edition.

With the final of the contest exactly 4 months away now (26 May), yesterday saw Azerbaijani network Ictmai TV (iTV) produce a live broadcast (from the ‘Buta Palace’) designed mainly for online viewers, showing the official announcements of the contest’s logo and ‘visual identity’, the venue that will be used (the soon-to-be-completed ‘Baku Crystal Hall’), and for the nations that have not been automatically placed in the final, when they will be singing for a chance to get there.

The ‘semi-final allocation draw’, hosted by local TV presenters Leyla Alieva and Nazim Huseynov, saw event officials draw the names of 37 of the 43 participating nations into large groups of two semi-finals (to be held on 22 & 24 May), from which the top 10 of each will make it into the final alongside the hosts (Azerbaijan) and European broadcasting’s long-designated ‘Big 5′ financial contributors (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), completing a line-up of 26 finalists.

The draw was made partially on a geographical basis to ensure a more even spread throughout the competition, as well as reviewing voting patterns from previous editions, moves which only scratch the surface of the reportedly complex rules of the yearly sing-off. Also drawn was the way that the competition is voted for (with half of the finalists and one semi-final block voting for the opposite semi-final), though the line-up is currently only partially complete, as the draw was only for what ‘part’ of each semi-final the participants would find themselves in (with full line-ups being decided in March).

With some of the key administrative items out of the way, what will be the next developments (namely the singers being chosen) from the big musical names and European nations hoping to conquer in Baku come May 2012?

The current line-up for the Eurovision semi-finals can be seen below:

Semi-Final 1 (22 May)
1st half of show
Albania
Belgium
Finland
Greece
Iceland
Latvia
Montenegro
Romania
Switzerland

2nd half of show
Austria
Cyprus
Denmark
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Moldova
Russia
San Marino

Semi-Final 2 (24 May)
1st half of show
Armenia [participation uncertain]
Belarus
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Malta
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Ukraine

2nd half of show
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Croatia
Estonia
Georgia
Lithuania
Norway
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Turkey

Final (26 May)
Azerbaijan [votes in semi 1]
France [semi 2]
Italy [semi 1]
Germany [semi 2]
Spain [semi 1]
UK [semi 2]
Top 10 entrants from Semi-Final 1
Top 10 entrants from Semi-Final 2

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The BBC’s iPlayer catch-up TV service has enjoyed it’s biggest ever audience figures in December (up 29% from 2010), with the huge jump in requests from not from computers, but connected devices such as connected TV sets, tablets and smartphones.

Top Gear and connected devices helped iplayer have a record year

The BBC have revealed that for the month of December, they received 187 million views from all platforms. But the big change was from which devices. 7 million requests from connected TV sets. An astonishing 1000% increse from December 2010. Tablets, including iPad had a 596% increase with 10 million requests and smartphones got an increase of 163% with 13 million programmes requested.

In total the iPlayer had 1.94 billion requests during the year 2011, showing that both online TV and internet-connected devices are making a real dent in the market. BBC general manager for programmes and on-demand, Daniel Danker said, “While 2011 was a remarkable year for BBC iPlayer across the board, the real story was growth of iPlayer on TVs, mobile phones, and tablets, outpacing PC growth many times over.”

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The show is said to have been taken the wrong way by a selection of Indian diplomats, who alongside the High Commission of India (HCI) are leading complaints against the episode of the BBC show, suggesting that it was ‘offensive’ and ‘full of toilet humour’.

The episode, which aired on 28 December, saw presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May attempt to drive from the city of Mumbai (India), to the northern border with China, whilst attempting to promote products from England to symbolise and boost trade relations.

However, the 90-minute edition of the motoring series seemed to be most notable in India for what was thought to be utilising a number of stereotypes about the nation, with a number of jokes about local food, transport, and illness.

The HCI has written to the BBC after it claimed to have received complaints from ’too many people’ that had been ’very upset’ by the episode. The BBC themselves are reported to have recieved 188 letters of complaint about the special.

The letter from the HCI, sent to BBC general director Mark Thompson, read:”The programme was replete with cheap jibes, tasteless humour and lacked cultural sensitivity that we expect from the BBC. I write this to convey our deep disappointment over the documentary for its content and the tone of the presentation. You are clearly in breach of the agreement that you had entered into, completely negating our constructive and proactive facilitation.”

A BBC spokeswoman claimed that the broadcaster hoped an understanding could be reached, and said of their next move in the issue: “We have received a letter from the Indian High Commission and will respond to them in due course.”

The most common sources of complaints are thought to include Clarkson’s conversion of his car boot into an emergency toilet (along with an opinion made that all visitors to India ‘get the trots’), and an attempt to make advertising banners on the outside of a train, which were ripped off by a separate carriage moving off and leaving the banners reading ‘obscene messages’ (a scene which many feel was most likely staged).

An Indian diplomat recently added to the complaints, stating: “The BBC has to make amends, particularly to assuage the hurt sentiment of a very large number of people. We understand the free press – they are welcome to explain and to challenge as long as it is fair and above the belt. Can this pass as acceptable journalism? The BBC has a global reputation. We expect the BBC to make amends.”

As well as the fact that the magazine show (which begins its 18th season on 29 January on BBC2) may not technically be a documentary, it is likely that this issue will blow over like a number of other incidents that Top Gear has landed itself in over the years, with broadcasting regulator Ofcom generally deciding on most claims that it is part of the show’s brand of humour. How will this incident pan out?

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The archive, which would be run on a subscription-only segment of the network’s free online catch-up service BBC iPlayer, could face issuing a ‘second licence fee’ to fund the collection and hosting of backdated content, although the extra fees would only be issued out to viewers who choose to sign up to watch such content.

Under the plans, regular licence fee payers and online browsers will still be able to use the regular iPlayer for free, which generally contains repeats of content aired on the network’s channels within the past week.

The move, and ‘fee structure’ is thought to be in the planning stages, as executives look for new ways to fund the corporation’s ambitious projects. The current licence fee for taxpayers is an annual rate of £145.50 ($223), with the fees currently ‘frozen’ as a result of agreed government cutbacks in 2010.

The BBC are thought to be discussing ‘careful modelling’ over a potential system, making sure that it is not for profit, but for covering expenditures, with added income most likely to be reinvested into the project. It is thought that such a proposal could be fully operational within three years, and part of the broadcasters structure by the time they renew their official charter in 2016.

An industry source said of the plans: “The costs involved in opening up the archives are such that the BBC needs to think about ways it can charge for access.”

A BBC spokesman confirmed that an ‘additional licence fee’ proposal was being looked into by the public service broadcaster. He said: “This is one of a series of ideas we are considering. A lot of careful modelling will have to be carried out, and we need to talk to the industry to ensure we are doing it in a way that works for everyone, so it is not imminent – but it is something we are looking at. We need to talk to the industry to ensure we are doing it in a way that works for everyone, so it is not imminent but it is something we are looking at.”

While the BBC already charge for iPlayer usage around the world, will a pay-based archive operation go down well on home turf?

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Flagship channel BBC One alone screened 2,736 shows as ’rerun’ between April 2010 and March 2011, at a rate said to be 1.7% higher than 5 years previously (2005-06).

Meanwhile, percentage rates for the period was at a level of 61% (repeated programming) on average for all channels, with BBC Two registering 49.8%. Whilst digital terrestrial spin-off channels BBC Three and BBC Four clocked in with much higher repeat rates of 84.2% and 79%, respectively.

Matthew Elliott, a representative of pressure group TaxPayers’ Alliance, stated his belief that the level of repeats is unacceptable to its viewers, who are forced to pay a licence fee annually in exchange for legally watching TV (with most of this money going to fund the BBC).

Elliot said of what he feels the BBC’s situation is in the wake of the figures being released: “Viewers will feel cheated that they are getting endless repeats in return for their licence fee each year. Auntie should scrap BBC Three if there aren’t enough new programmes. Bosses need to focus on delivering high-quality and unique programming.”

The remaining percentages on the figures mentioned above is obviously the amount of original programming being broadcast, and while a corporation average of 39% across the four main channels might not read well for the public broadcaster, it can be argued that the low figures do not tell the whole story.

It is likely that these figures do include shows being repeated in less viewer-friendly hours (such as the middle of the day (work hours) and early morning), while the BBC themselves claim that due to the public licence fee, they have had to prioritize the creation of primetime content on the broadcaster’s TV channels, and that offering repeats of such programming gives users a greater chance of seeing episodes that they may have missed at a convenient time, even with the availability of the online and on-demand BBC iPlayer.

They also believe that with a large number of hours to fill on their four main channels, the application of ’bigger’ events and shows in primetime gives licence fee payers the best possible value-for-money. A BBC spokesman said of their scheduling process: “Repeats are scheduled to reach different audiences and are rarely shown in the same slot. On BBC One, for example, over 91% of programmes in primetime are new. Audiences value having several opportunities to catch something they may have missed.”

While the BBC’s figure of 61% certainly makes them a lot less guilty of ‘endless repeats’ than other networks, is their current average ratio of original programming acceptable for a public service broadcaster?

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Lovefilm get to stream BBC and ITV content

LoveFilm owned by Amazon are the leading UK streaming company, who will shortly face some stiff competition from rival Netflix who plan to launch in the UK. The two companies have been busy securing content deals as the market becomes more competative. Netflix have already secured a deal with the BBC back in December.

Speaking about the deal, Simon Calver, CEO of LoveFilm said, “We are thrilled to be bringing together great British TV content with Europe’s leading film subscription service. This gives LOVEFiLM an even more powerful, unique offering of instant programming for our members to view across a growing number of platforms, for one low monthly price.”

For BBC Worldwide, Lisa Rousseau, Head of UK and Irelan said, “We’ve had a content partnership with LOVEFiLM for several years now and it’s great to see this evolve digitally. We’re delighted to give LOVEFiLM’s subscribers the opportunity to instantly watch their favourite British shows, wherever and whenever they wish, alongside a diverse range of great programmes and films.”

LoveFilm were acquired by Amazon back in February 2011 and boast around 1.9m members in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The Lovefilm Instant service allows subscribers to watch streaming on a number of devices such their computer, PS3, Xbox 360, Apple iPad and connected TV sets. They also offer members the option of a DVD by mail service, which Netflix UK, has abandoned.

The deal from the two TV networks is both non-exclusive and only applies to older content as both the BBC and ITV keep the premium and current content for their own catch-up players, the iPlayer and ITV Player.

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While TV rights for the Barclays Premier League currently apply to Sky Sports (who can air 115 live games per season), ESPN UK (23 per season), and BBC (weekly highlights) through to the end of the 2012-13 season, the next few months will see a bidding war begin for sales to the rights of the next period.

While the current holders seem almost certain of attempting the continuation of their respective arrangements, it is believed that Apple, Google, and Qatar-based satellite TV station Al-Jazeera are amongst the names that could launch bids of their own.

Despite Apple recently dismissing these claims, it is thought that they may choose to make an offer for the broadcasting rights as a way of promoting their Apple TV set-top-box service, and would mark the first time that live Premier League football in England would be broadcast exclusively by a non-TV channel, with any effort from Google probably meaning the same for their connected ‘Google TV’ services.

Any successful bid from either of those two (who would be capable of financially matching the £1.6b paid by Sky for their current 3-season contract) would be seen as a groundbreaking moment in top-level sports broadcasting, with the pair both capable of adding live streams to their portable devices (such as the iPad, iPhone, Android tablet and smartphones) as well as on Smart TV. A key issue, though, might be the comparative slow and unreliable speed of Internet connection in many areas that are better served by cable or satellite TV, a fact which may cause any ‘online’ bidders to rethink their strategy.

Online coverage is not a problem with the Premier League at the moment, though, as proven by the current rights holders using new methods to deliver content, with alternatives including Sky’s ‘Sky Go’ app for selected live and catch-up coverage, and ESPN’s free ’ESPN Goals’ highlights app, as well as official Internet highlights rights holder Yahoo.

One bidder that might also be able to maintain a presence on several fronts is Al-Jazeera, who would need to launch a branded channel in England for a move to work, although the Qatari broadcaster would also have the funds to cover all they need to set up an English-language presence with the Premier League.

While it is fairly unlikely that the bidders will claim the key upper end of Sky’s share of rights (which are sold in six ’23 game’ packages) could the new competition involved in the bidding process signal that football is not a TV-only sport as it comes to new platforms?

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iPlayer mobile app goes global

That release, called ‘Global iPlayer’, offered subscription-based BBC content originally to users in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, and followed up with expansions in September to Australia and Canada.

The new release is scheduled to be officially out on Apple’s smaller touchscreen devices tomorrow, and will be accessible to users in the above-mentioned countries for similar monthly prices, for which they will get the chance to watch both classic and new BBC content on-demand.

BBC Worldwide chief executive John Smith said of the upcoming release: “The global BBC iPlayer has seen great growth since the pilot first launched in July – both in terms of geographical expansion and technological developments. Moving to iPhone and iPod Touch allows us to take the service to a significant new potential audience and deliver fantastic programme content from the BBC and the UK’s creative industry.”

Jana Bennett, head of the Global iPlayer product, added her opinion on both the release, and a new arrangement which sees Global iPlayer host content from independent distributor DRG (mainly shows featured on BBC terrestrial rival Channel 4): “This platform extension shows how Global iPlayer isn’t just about moving TV to tablet devices, it’s also about a mobile strategy – about truly getting TV everywhere in a way that it hasn’t been before. We also want the global BBC iPlayer to be truly representative of the whole gamut of British creative output, to represent everything that is great about British content – not just the Best of British TV but the Best of British Culture.”

Statistics show that so far, the Global iPlayer experiment has been a success, with Bennett reporting that around 75% of the service’s subscribers access the app every day, while 35% view an average of more than one show per visit, and 25% continue browsing on the app after finishing a programme, giving a clear indication that the service is becoming a good source of income to the BBC, as well as a value-for-money source of entertainment for its international users. Will their latest step forward on portable devices be a further success?

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The study reviewed two million different broadband speed tests and discovered, fairly predictably, that the lowest speeds recorded occured between 7:00pm-9:00pm, generally considered ‘peak times’, with speeds as low as 2.1Mbps noted.

It is the gap between the highest and lowest points in the day which is most noticable, though, as the town of Evesham (England) was recorded as seeing the greatest differential, a 69% difference between the highest and lowest average speeds in a day.

Uswitch also confirmed other more predictable outcomes of their study, with the best time to be online coming at 2:00-3:00am, with average UK speeds of 9.6Mbps.

Uswitch’s Ernest Doku, who was involved in conducting the study, said of its findings: “It really is surprising just how much broadband speeds fluctuate at different times of the day, with drop-offs of almost 70% in some areas of the UK. Not many internet users enjoy the maximum headline broadband speeds offered by providers, and certainly not during the working week.”

Many Internet users are known to complain at the way that service providers ‘control’ the allocation of broadband, with speeds suggested to be ‘throttled’ at peak times, which the providers claim is a vital part of their management process.

One high-profile (and ongoing) complaint came in 2009, when the BBC suggested that service provider BT were holding back on the level of bandwidth issued (without proper warning) to their customers for online streaming services such as the BBC iPlayer during peak periods. BT rebuffed this particular complaint by stating that they cannot offer a ‘free ride’ to people using more broadband-strenuous services such as video streaming.

A recent study from media watchdog Ofcom claims that an average household will download or stream 17GB of data every month, and that with more and more large-sized downloads and streaming options putting a strain on bandwidth allocation, the issue of broadband speeds need to be addressed, with a potential reform starting with Ofcom’s plans to introduce rulings for provider’s descriptions of ‘up to’ and ‘unlimited speeds’ This has come after an Ofcom report in May stated that while the average ‘advertised speed’ of broadband providers was 15Mbps, the average that users actually experienced was a comparatively lowly 6.8.

Some packages from Internet service providers are believed to include download and streaming limits, suggesting that heavy users of video services could be charged extra should they exceed their limits. While it seems to be fair that the providers want to offer a more equal allocation across all of its users, is it false advertising if the speeds achieved rarely match their lofty claimed potential?

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Tablets love the BBC iPlayer

The catch-up TV service had 153 million requests for TV and radio streaming across all platforms during September in the UK, and the popularity of new technology such as iPads and Android tablets was instrumental in driving the number of requests.

Tablet PC’s requesting content grew from 4 million in August to 4.6 million in September. This figure is still only a small portion of the overall 153 million monthly requests, and tablets accounted for about 3% of the total requests. But the figures still show that tablet TV is growing massively.

The BBC recently revamped their homepage to better cater for mobile devices. Other than tablets, mobile devices including smartphones, account for 6% of requests for programming content.

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Official research from the broadcaster claims that they pay almost £10m each year to the subscription TV giant, due mainly to ‘retransmission’ of their collective 49 TV and radio channels, especially when distributing to regional outlets. However, it is also believed that the high fee is also paid to reserve and maintain key channels in good (low) positions on Sky’s Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) (such as BBC One and BBC Two in slots 101 & 102 respectively).

John Tate, head of policy and strategy, who had recently praised Sky for their efforts in developing the UK TV industry, has noted that the government are looking at potential solutions on the ‘communications bill’, and that their fellow main terrestrial broadcasters (ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5) are looking to join forces with the BBC in getting Sky’s retransmission fee either reduced or waived in their scenario.

Some experts have gone as far to claim that Sky should be paying these main channels for the right to host them considering their popularity with Sky’s 10m-strong customer base. Regardless of whether that claim is pushed on by the broadcasters, a fee withdrawal would not be the first time that Sky’s actions have saved the BBC some of their funds, after the pay-TV service bought a majority of the rights to air Formula 1 motor racing in July in an undisclosed (but likely to be very big-money) deal.

While Tate claimed that the BBC are ‘not looking’ to get paid themselves, he issued his belief that: ”In the context of a very tight licence fee settlement, payment from us to them of retransmission of what are to them highly valuable services is not appropriate.”

He added that the money saved from a potential 5-year fee waive from Sky would result in: “Not having to make reductions in output on local radio plus the reduction of BBC Four… it’s roughly £50m over the period.”

A Sky spokesman quickly hit back at the BBC’s formal request, suggesting that they should not be exempt from paying fees just because of the status they hold. The statement read: “The BBC chooses to buy platform services from Sky that enable it to provide a wide variety of services on the satellite platform. As with any broadcaster who uses our open platform, we ask for a fair and proportionate contribution towards its running costs. Of course if the BBC no longer wants to buy these services from us, it is free to stop doing so at any point. But these are legitimate operational costs, which are regulated by Ofcom, and all broadcasters who choose to use our platform pay them. We don’t see the BBC as being the exception to this principle. No-one expects the National Grid to provide the BBC with cheap electricity subsidised by its other customers, so why is Sky any different?”

While the two sides are probably due to be at odds over this issue for a little longer yet, what do you make of this situation? Are the BBC’s requests a fair one? Or will Sky’s ‘one size fits all’ fee regulations win through?

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Watch online TV in Canada

In a market that is certainly up with the best in the world in terms of funding, innovation, and global popularity, TV services in the UK have a good cross-section of appeal, as the split between ‘free-to-air’ and pay-TV customers is nearly 50-50. That statistic, though, does not include the ever-growing use of online TV services, as major broadcasters (and smaller ones) look to claim their piece in this relatively new opportunity by offering their own-branded online streaming, catch-up, and on-demand TV services, many of which are shared with the neighbouring Republic of Ireland.

In an outlook that somewhat replicates traditional TV viewership in the British Isles, the main presence in the free-to-air on-demand TV market in the UK is offered by the traditional ‘analogue terrestrial channels’, including public broadcaster BBC, main commercial competitor ITV, and the smaller rivals Channel Four and Channel 5.

However, this terrestrial dominance is being challenged by subscription-based counterparts on the Internet as well as offline, with satellite TV provider Sky having plenty of financial backing to bring new broadcasting technologies to the table, and have been previously known for their successful implementation of interactive services, High Definition, and more recently 3D feeds.

As the number of commercial platforms increases, so too does the range of networks and genres that are broadcast, where Sky naturally lead the way with a number of channels in sports (Sky Sports) movies (Sky Movies) and news (Sky News), amongst others, and all of which feature on the own-brand live TV and catch-up streaming service Sky Go. It is not a complete dominance, though, as rivals to Sky in fields such as sport (Eurosport and ESPN), movies (Film4), and multi-channel broadcasting (Virgin Media and BT Vision) still exist as alternatives either on Internet or mobile-based systems, and often at a reduced price.

More details on the variety of TV networks in the UK can be found on the linked page. Alternatively, information on the UK’s TV market in general can be found at this link to Wikipedia.

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The international app, which is exclusive to Apple’s iPad tablet computer, has already been launched in 11 European countries following the product’s release in late July, with the same service now offered to Australian viewers in a subscription package that will contain over 1,000 hours of current and classic BBC content on-demand at any given time.

Customers will be able to download the app for free, but to access unlimited video on-demand content will require a monthly fee of AU$9.49 (£5.90), or a reduced annual rate of AU$89.99 (£56.10), with the membership giving them the rights to stream content through WiFi or download shows to view offline within its hosting timeframe.

Tony Iffland, the general manager of BBC Worldwide’s Australia division, said of the launch: “The global BBC iPlayer will enable Australian iPad users to access the best of British television, wherever and whenever they want to view it. It is a unique proposition offering a quality, enjoyable and engaging experience for viewers through editorially curated content, rather than catch-up content. The launch of global BBC iPlayer in Australia marks an important step forward for BBC Worldwide Australia’s digital growth and our intention to bring quality British content to audiences in an innovative, creative and easily accessible format.”

BBC took the expansion news as an opportunity to make another announcement, as Matthew Littleford, a former controller at UKTV, has been hired as the general manager of BBC iPlayer’s global service, being promoted from the role of creative director.

Littleford will work under Jana Bennett, BBC Worldwide’s president of channels and iPlayer. Bennett said of the appointment: “Matthew is the perfect choice to lead the global BBC iPlayer through its next journey as we move into the entertainment schedules of digital audiences around the world. With his passion for British television and previous experience running commercial and digital networks we are very lucky to have him managing the service during its pilot phase, as it evolves and becomes available in new markets.”

Littleford himself referenced the recent iPlayer expansion: “This is a really exciting time for the global BBC iPlayer as we continue to evolve, develop and ensure it is what our international audiences want from us. I’m delighted to be taking on overall responsibility as we move from launch phase into roll-out.”

With new staff and a wider audience base to work with, will the BBC iPlayer be as successful overseas as it has in the British Isles?

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New BBC website targets mobile devices and connected TV

If you head over to the new restyled homepage at beta.bbc.co.uk, or click the link on the existing BBC site you can see the changes. The website has a larger area for TV shows and iPlayer streaming links.

The site has sliders that show more detail of popular BBC content as well as ‘Whats on now’ and live TV and radio listings. There are also the usual news and sport headlines and weather forecasts. For users that are not keen on any changes, the BBC have also setup a page to help users get accustomed to the new changes here.

Speaking about the new site that has become more mobile friendly, James Thornett, the product manager for the BBC Homepage said, “It shares a design principle that we’ve seen in tablets and mobile phones and we’ve heard from reviewers during testing over the last couple of months that it feels quite natural to them because of that.”

He continued, “We are already looking in advance, and thinking about how this would appear on a mobile platform. With the user interaction and design, you can see how tablets could easily be adapted and we are also talking with our colleagues across the business of TV. There are interesting discussions around the converging of TV platforms in the future as well.”

The site is quite simple and therefore more suitable to a smaller size screen or viewed on a connected TV set. The BBC website is expected to change to the new design in the next couple of months.

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Canadian director Cameron, a long-time champion of 3D productions (and notable for his work with hit 2009 film Avatar, the first major movie to apply modern 3D technology) is currently working alongside the BBC’s film division to produce Walking with Dinosaurs 3D, described as a ‘part CGI, part live-action’ 3D drama combining a documentary-style information piece with a fictional story of a dinosaur family from 70 million years ago.

Cameron’s production line Cameron/Pace (which he runs alongside 3D expert Vince Pace), are providing their ‘Fusion 3D’ technology to the BBC for the new movie.

As part of an interview at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam (Holland), Cameron stated his belief that Walking with Dinosaurs 3D can show the BBC the potential of the format. He said: “Walking With Dinosaurs is a theatrical motion picture so it will be in the IMAX in the UK and in digital 3D. We had a very good meeting with the BBC, where we said we could be doing all kinds of things together. The BBC has held back a little bit with 3D, whereas Sky has jumped in and ESPN has jumped in. All these broadcasters have varying degrees of excitement for 3D.”

While the BBC have overseen a recent emergence into the 3D sports market (including live coverage of the Wimbledon tennis finals and a near-confirmation of select live coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games), Cameron has agreed with public belief that the broadcaster is falling behind commercial rivals such as Sky due to their hesitance to develop 3D for general programming.

He claimed that the BBC needs to stop being cautious on the matter, as their position in broadcasting could be seen as being able to influence smaller networks to try their hand at 3D. Cameron added: “The point I made to the head of BBC was that you can’t hold back indefinitely. You have to muscle in on this; you have to learn how to do this. This is what broadcasters are starting to wake up to that 3D is going to happen as soon as the cost deltas between the normal 3D productions and 2D productions start to reduce.”

With classic movies also set to join a potential ’3D re-production line’, the future looks bright for the emerging format (at least for high-profile projects) with an increasing range of broadcasting potential, but will the BBC take the advice of the man who first brought the technology to the public eye?

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Panasonic’s role as the official AV equipment supplier of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), means that in each Olympics they work with the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and host broadcaster (which in this case is the BBC (of England and the rest of Great Britain)) to provide broadcasting equipment and potential innovation.

London 2012 is no exception to this progress, as the company are to help BBC produce 3D broadcasts for ‘all major events’ with both ceremonies, athletics, diving, swimming, and gymnastics amongst the 14 listed categories.

The OBS are being given the mission by the IOC to ensure that over 200 hours of 3D footage during the Games is shot with assistance from Panasonic’s appropriate equipment, with footage then distributed to global rights holders to the Games, with the first priority being the BBC.

Panasonic are not inexperienced in 3D coverage, having previously combined with Eurosport to produce live footage of the French Open Tennis Tournament in the format, where the electronics company were responsible for providing the equipment and infrastructure neccesary for such a broadcast.

Panasonic executive Takumi Kajisha said of the Olympics arrangement, which is has currently gone unannounced by the BBC: ”Panasonic has been proud to support the Olympic host broadcaster since the first digital broadcast in Barcelona 1992, right through to the first HD broadcast in Beijing 2008. Now we are proud to announce the partnership with the IOC and OBS to create another successful era in Olympic broadcasting with the first live 3D Olympic Games at London 2012. There is no doubt that the Olympic Games will provide some of the best content for the 3D market in the future, and that 3D TV will drastically change the way we experience this great sporting event in our living rooms.”

OBS managing director Manolo Romero added: “For the past two decades, Panasonic has been a valued partner of the Olympic movement and of the host broadcasting organisation. We are now proud to announce this partnership to realise the first ever live 3D Olympic Games, and we are confident that this unprecedented broadcast will be a great success in no small part due to the 3D technologies provided by Panasonic. Ultimately, we believe this production of the first live 3D Olympic Games will make the London 2012 Olympic Games one of the most significant in the history of broadcasting technology.”

The Olympics has seen 3D filming before, in Barcelona (Spain) in 1992, and while the BBC have been rumoured for a long time to be planning some live 3D content for the games, they are not confirming what seems to be in-place plans until they can provide full details, thought to come by the end of the year. Their 3D coverage will have a little competition with the public screening of ‘Super HD’, but which Japanese-aided viewing technology development will be best showcased next summer?

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BBC’s head of Olympic broadcasting Roger Mosey added that while news on live 3D coverage (both public and private) will come nearer the turn of the year, viewers in Bradford (England), Glasgow (Scotland), and Olympic Host City London (England) can look forward to 600-inch screens airing live coverage throughout the 17 days in July & August.

The development has been an innovation of Japanese public service broadcaster NHK, who are teaming up with the BBC for a platform to showcase their new technology, with ’Super HD’ coverage expected to include the opening ceremony (highlights only), and selected live events throughout the games.

The Super Hi-Vision screens are currently in the process of being produced in Japan, and are already being advertised as capable of supporting a 4320 x 7680 pixel signal (compared to the current TV maximum of 1080 x 1920), with a potential of 120fps (though the transmissions next summer will run on around half that).

The move follows a previous partnership between BBC and NHK, after a first-ever broadcast of Super Hi-Vision was achieved in September 2010, when a concert by The Charlatans was aired between London and Tokyo. Since then, the pair have managed to compress the connection speed needed for  transmitting video signals (from 24Gbs to 350Mbps).

The BBC are stating a belief that Super Hi-Vision can become a ‘better long-term prospect’ than 3D broadcasting depending on further reducing production  and operation costs, though NHK believe they can achieve this (and bring Super Hi-Vision to home use in Japan) by the year 2022.

The relatively slow growth of 3D is noted by the BBC, who claim that their coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games will require a key balance between ‘minority’ innovation such as 3D (the recent experiment of Wimbledon Tennis in 3D drew a peak of 140,000 viewers), and the more mainstream coverage, including, digital, HD, online and interactive services.

The broadcaster recently stated that they intend to broadcast every event: “From first thing in the morning to last thing at night.” With up to 24 live online streams available to users of desktop, smartphones, and tablet computers through a newly-designed website.

Regarding 3D and Super HD, though it is not the first time that the Olympics has been used as a platform for broadcasting innovation, with a potential global audience seen as the perfect chance to premeire features such as televised events in colour (1948 in London (England)), HD filming (1984 in Los Angeles (USA)), and trials of 3D (1992 in Barcelona (Spain)).

With the 2012 Olympics likely to witness athletes attempt to push the boundaries of their sports to new limits (with the world especially wanting to see dominant Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt break his 100m record (9.58 seconds)), will similar efforts be seen in the broadcasting technology studios next summer?

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The move comes not long after digitally remastered editions of classic Doctor Who episodes were made similarly available to Facebook users. Episodes of Top Gear on the new service will include the Polar Special (released yesterday)joined by US Road Trip (on 28 August), and Vietnam Special (4 September). Rental prices are currently set on the official Top Gear Facebook page at 15 Facebook Credits (equivalent to around £0.93) for one (48 hour) rental.

With the official Facebook fanpage currently registering over 8.8m (making it the worldwide 25th-biggest TV show on the social networking site (and biggest show from England), there is obviously plenty of potential for the new venture.

With this in mind, Top Gear‘s managing director Adam Waddell said of the deal: “Top Gear has amassed a huge following on Facebook with almost 14 million friends following the brand itself and The Stig. We’re always looking at ways of adding value for the core fans of the show so it’s entirely appropriate that we should be one of the first TV shows to make its premium content available via Facebook.”

Facebook are steadily increasing streaming services and have just launched a rental movie service with Miramax.

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Because a small-capacity provider such as Freeview does not have enough bandwidth capacity to just give the hours away, another channel’s schedule had to be temporarily dropped to allow the change, and the BBC Trust have confirmed that the BBC Parliament channel will be sacrificed between 19 July and 12 August next year. This will give 24-hour broadcasting rights to BBC Three, who usually operate between 7pm and 7am each day.

BBC Parliament on Freeview will remain a title card for the duration of this period, but will return as usual after the temporary switch, and will remain available on cable and satellite services for people who still want to tune in.

The move is part of the BBC Trust’s approved plans for 2012 Olympic coverage by the public broadcaster, which includes over 1,000 hours of online video coverage of the games, and a dedicated temporary digital radio station under the name of BBC 5 Live Olympics Extra. BBC Three’s budget for this period will now be raised by £4.5m to help the switch to all-hours, while the new radio station comes at a projected cost of £200,000.

With the BBC promising the International Olympic Committee the outlets to bring ‘every minute’ of the event to local audiences (helped by the additional online coverage), something had to give to allow room, and BBC Trust have been quick to defend the temporary removal of BBC Parliament (which has an average rating of 120,000 viewers), with Parliament itself not scheduled to be in-session at that time. A similar stance has been taken on the regular schedule of BBC Three, which will also be withdrawn across the Olympic period, but the defence of small audiences and it only being a temporary arrangement should be understandable to most viewers.

An official BBC Trust statement on the arrangement read: “Having assessed the proposed temporary service and offers against these criteria, we have reached the conclusion that they do not represent a significant change to the BBC’s UK Public Services and so do not require a public value test. We are approving in outline the launch of this temporary service and offers. We will consult publicly on the radio service, as set out in its draft service licence, before finalising the terms of its service licence.

The statement finalised: “The BBC’s mission is to inform, educate and entertain and its main object is to promote its public purposes. The Trust considers that coverage of major sports events, such as the London 2012 Olympics, fits closely with the BBC’s role to promote the public purposes and so is fully in keeping with the BBC’s remit and mission.”

With a projected local audience of over 75% of the UK population set to tune in to the 2012 Olympic Games, the BBC intends on going all-out to provide top-quality and detailed coverage, including plans for selected 3D coverage following a trial of the technology at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships earlier in the year.

Of course, it is a lot easier to justify this commitment when the event is being hosted in England, as plans are already afoot to offer rival broadcasters ITV and Channel 4 the chance to co-broadcast the following Summer Olympics (2016 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)) alongside regulars BBC and Eurosport as a cost-cutting measure, but the current question has to be if the 2012 coverage will live up to its high expectations…

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The iPlayer app is free to download and install but to watch BBC shows users will have to fork out €6.99 a month ($10), or €49.99 ($72) for an annual subscription.

The initial launch will only work if you live in Western Europe: “Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland”. Plans are in place to bring the global iPlayer to the USA, Canada and Australia by the end of the year.

The BBC iPlayer app has some differences from other iPad video apps like Hulu Plus or ABC’s video player. Notably, it can stream shows over 3G connections as well as Wi Fi, and users will be able to download and store shows for viewing while offline.

“When we were doing our user testing, the use case was picking six shows before going on a long journey, and leaving them to download to the iPad overnight,” Mark Smith, the global iPlayer launch director said.

“The way the iPad works, though, is it hibernates and stops you from doing that: you wake up the next morning and only half a show has downloaded. We have managed to override that functionality, and Apple are comfortable with us doing that.”

Subscribers are not going to be able to access to the entire BBC’s on air offerings, however. BBC Worldwide is said to have hired a team of editors to “curate” the content on the iPlayer, picking which shows to put on the app.

It also give them to go beyond the usual genre and title browsing by adding themed collections on subjects and events. As an example, the long running sci-fi show Doctor Who, collections surrounding specific Doctors will be available.

“This is not a catch up service: this is a video on demand service,” BBC managing director Luke Bradley Jones said. “We will have content from the last month, but also the best from the catalogue stretching back 50 to 60 years.”

The content at launch is going be the same accross all the 11 countries, but the BBC has the ability to change the content of the app to allow us to meet the demands of each region/country.

This will likely factor more highly in the introduction of the global iPlayer to the USA, where licensing rights for TV shows can be more very complicated. According to reports, once the BBC works out the rights issues, the iPlayer content shouldn’t affect the company’s offerings in iTunes, Hulu, and Netflix.

“We see the global BBC iPlayer very much as another ‘Channel’ operating in Western Europe,” BBC spokesman Alex Fulton said. “By adopting windowing strategies for our content, we are able to ensure that our broadcast partners and Channels around the world are able to entertain their audiences with our shows.”

The subscription price is interesting because it is lower than the BBC license fee in the UK, making it cheaper to watch the BBC abroad. This may have some residents up in arms.

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The rights deal sees the BBC’s exclusive contract, which had been in place since 2009 end at the end of the current year, even though their deal with Formula One Management was set to expire at the end of 2013.

The move will see the BBC’s live coverage of the premier single-seater motor racing series halved, with only 10 of next year’s 20 races (and those race’s practice and qualifying sessions) set to recieve full live coverage by the national broadcaster. Sky, on the other hand, will be airing all practice, qualifying, and race sessions live, and in half of the events, exclusive (the other half will be broadcast simultaneously with the BBC).

For additional coverage, the BBC’s set of 10 races (which are already confirmed as including the events in Monaco, Britain, and the final race of the year (usually either Brazil or Abu Dhabi)) are to be streamed live on the BBC Sport website for UK viewers. Highlights of each race will also be available through TV, mobile, and online outlets, even those that are Sky-exclusive.

BBC Sport director Barbara Slater stated of the arrangement, which is thought to be a cost-cutting measure for the public broadcaster: “We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC. The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments. With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers.”

While it is the first time that a full season of F1 will be broadcast  on free-to-air TV, it was only natural that Sky would snap up the rights, with the seemingly endless funding that the satellite broadcaster posess a perfect match for arguably the richest sport event in the world, and a likely outcome considering that Sky parent company News Corp recently showed interest in trying to buy the sport altogether.

Sky Sports managing director Barney Francis expressed his delight, and his company’s plans for innovation with the coverage: “This is fantastic news for F1 fans and Sky Sports will be the only place to follow every race live and in HD. We will give F1 the full Sky Sports treatment with a commitment to each race never seen before on UK television.”

He continued: “Subscribers are in for a real treat as Sky Sports gets ready to show every second of every race, qualifier and practice session. And, as you might expect, they can look forward to F1 being given the Sky Sports treatment, with in-depth coverage and cutting edge innovation. Sky was awarded broadcast rights alongside the BBC. As the UK’s two leading sports broadcasters, I’m confident that the partnership will bring increased choice, innovation and breadth of coverage to UK and Irish motor racing fans.”

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