BBC to offer Microsoft-only streaming content?
The BBC will shut the “minority of consumers who either do not use Microsoft or do not have an up-to-date Microsoft operating system” out of its new on-line, on-demand services, according to proposals put up for public comment 
by the British broadcaster.
The restriction is driven by DRM concerns as the BBC outlines in a weighty (652KB) PDF of its new plans. It intends to place all content on the net for seven days after the initial broadcast, so that users can “catch-up” on shows they have missed.
But it won’t be a free-for-all:
In respect of the seven-day catch-up over the internet service, the files would require DRM to ensure that they were appropriately restricted in terms of time and geographic consumption. The only system that currently provides this security is Windows Media 10 and above. Further, the only comprehensively deployed operating system that currently supports Windows Media Player 10 and above is the Windows XP operating system. As a result of these DRM requirements the proposed BBC iPlayer download manager element therefore requires Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP. This means the service would be unavailable to a minority of consumers who either do not use Microsoft or do not have an up-to-date Microsoft operating system.
Mac users (and others) will take some comfort from hopes of a less proprietary future:
However, over time, technology improvements are likely to enable even more efficient methods of delivery. Further, it is our understanding the BBC Executive are working towards the iPlayer download manager being able to function on other operating systems.
If you have strong views about these things or simply like your media free of proprietary constrictions, the BBC welcomes comments .
[Via Boing-Boing -- Thanks, Conrad]
UPDATE: According to fifthdecade, who posts in the comments below,
Microsoft are getting a 2 year exclusivity deal which they haven’t paid for. It’s a scandal! That alone must be worth millions to Microsoft if next year’s Premier League football TV coverage is worth £600 million!
Read more on his blog.
Related posts
February 1st, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Forgive my contempt and scorn but it takes a certain amount of hypocrisy to ignore Quicktime yet name their service iPlayer…
(And, on the one or two times I’ve used their website, it didn’t strike me as very Safari friendly either.)
February 2nd, 2007 at 12:50 am
As a license fee paying UK citizen, it is a disgrace.
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:32 am
Why does Microsoft not provide a DRM-compatible Windows Media player for Mac or at least a QuickTime plugin?
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:28 am
Don’t complain here. Go and fill out the online survey - I did.
It’s an absolute disgrace for a national broadcaster to tie itself into a product developed by a single vendor. What would the reaction be if BBC TV broadcasts only played on Toshiba TVs, or played on everything except Sony ? Complete outrage probably ! Yet I expect Apple’s share of the computer market is larger than any one vendor’s share of the TV market.
Also, how are they judging Apple’s share of the market in the first place ? Most OS market share surveys are flawed anyway - I want to see what the Mac share is of the home computer market, the share of the market where people actually exercise a free choice what system to use - not a survey that includes EPOS machines, corporate Office terminals, or OEM supplied Windows installations on machines that now run Linux.
Also, as we all know, Macs are more widely used in creative markets, including TV and film production. So the BBC excluding the media creatives that it should be *encouraging* !
The BBC have made an arrangement with Microsoft, and it goes beyond just this content delivery, also covering what technologies they will use to provide their web services too. I know, I was a developer there at the time it was agreed.
February 2nd, 2007 at 6:05 am
Is this consultation(and the service) meant to be worldwide or only for Uk citizens ?
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 am
See this link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2003039,00.html
“[The BBC Trust] also demanded that the BBC made a version available for Apple Mac computers and other operating systems”
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Microsoft are getting a 2 year exclusivity deal which they haven’t paid for. It’s a scandal! That alone must be worth millions to Microsoft if next year’s Premier League football TV coverage is worth £600 million!
I’ve posted some excerpts from the relevant BBC documents on my blog, together with some more links and analysis - even Tessa Jowell’s email address as the Minister responsible for TV.
February 2nd, 2007 at 10:34 pm
The BBC are proposing to support Macs by adding support for Real Player later. Yuck!
They should of course be using the iTunes store. Programmes can be priced at £0.00 for the UK and $1.99 for the US.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:34 am
I’ve no intention of installing RealPlayer either. I did have Flip4Mac but removed it after the news they’d failed to secure it:
http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/MOAB-27-01-2007.html
Wouldn’t it be nice if some of these content providers would supply content in open formats? I suppose that’s too much to ask–even when the provider in question in using money extracted in a controversial and somewhat non-voluntary manner from people many of whom won’t agree with what it’s doing.
February 3rd, 2007 at 8:54 am
I’ve got no particular brief for the BBC on this one but…
There is no iTunes store for TV programmes in the UK. Is that the BBC’s fault? - I don’t know. But you can’t help thinking that maybe if Apple had been willing to licence its DRM to broadcasters, this wouldn’t have happened.
You certainly can’t blame broadcasters if they want to develop their own independent distribution and not tie themselves to Apple and iTunes.
February 3rd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Except the BBC’s using licence payers money to give a two year advantage to Microsoft. Any other broadcaster would charge Microsoft big money for that.
February 3rd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
So they tie themselves to Microsoft instead… And in the process fail to make some money from the deal AND waste licence money. Brilliant!
BBC: Being Bloody Cretinous.