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back to article BBC boss confirms iTunes alternative in store

The BBC is working on a digital content store as an alternative to Apple's iTunes. Speaking to the Royal Television Society this week, the Corporation's Director General, Mark Thompson, confirmed that the scheme, codenamed 'Project Barcelona', will let punters "purchase a digital copy of a programme to own and keep". The cost …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    DRM, and Virual PVR

    Is there any mention of DRM?

    'Own and keep' does not equate to 'play forever on any of your devices'

    On a separate note - what would happen if somebody offered a virtual PVR (online)? You pay £x per month to rent a virtual PVR and say which programmes you wish to record (free to air only) - and then transfer them to your home PC, etc. Sounds like a plan to me.

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    1. The BigYin
      Reply Icon

      Re: DRM, and Virual PVR

      This was going to be my first question.

      I want to be able to play it on any device the knows the codec, stream it over my home network and even transcode it for my portable players. Just as I can with DVDs (despite being fair use to any reasonable person, this still remains illegal in the UK).

      As for the PVR thing - are the recordings meant to be notionally time limited? i.e. they expect you to watch&delete in around 2 weeks. I may be wrong in that.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    relatively modest

    = "a little cheaper than a commercial equivalent"

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Stop

      Re: relatively modest

      If you are patient you can pick up most BBC DVD releases very cheaply anyway. Just purchased The Tripods box set (both series) for under a tenner which works out at about 39p an episode.

      Picked up all 3 series of the original Survivors for £15, but I only got midway through series 2 before wanting to tear my eyeballs out in sheer boredom. Still again I doubt they'll be matching that price online.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blimey

    I might not be able to hold off the Dalek box set any longer...

    I had the record that illustrates the piece as a child. I wonder of I've still got it some where. I wonder if I'll be able to get it again.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    Open up the archives

    Would be great to see the BBC and ITV/former ITV companies open up their archives.

    What a shame it is then that I heard that the company that now holds the former TVS archive was junking shows* from the 1980's even recently with *NO* copies being made. Apparently they claim the shows are of no commercial value which is exactly the reasoning the BBC et al had in the 1960's/70's when it junked shows on a daily basis.

    When Network can stick out episodes of 1970's Crossroads on DVD and turn a profit it does kind of point to the fact that if you exploit your archive correctly you can make money.

    * Episodes of kids TV shows Number 73 and the UK version of Fraggle Rock apparently. Only found this out when a friend purchased Fraggle Rock for her kids and got the American Fulton Mackay-less version.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Flame

      Re: Open up the archives

      Junking Fraggle Rock??? Bloody Philistines.

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    2. Cliff
      Reply Icon

      Re: Open up the archives

      Where will we now go to see early performances from comfortably-shoed Nordic Radio 4 presenters?

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    3. Christian Berger
      Reply Icon

      Re: Open up the archives

      Opening up the archives is actually more complicated than you might think. In Germany you can generally ask TV-stations for copies of previously broadcast shows. This is usually done for high, but fair prices, considering those copies are "handmade". (about 60 Euros per hour of material is common) I once asked them about an experimental TV show made in 1972 which has absolutely no commercial value, and they couldn't give it to me. The problem was that in order to hand out copies, they need to have the right to do so. And back then they simply didn't think about home video so they didn't negotiate the rights with the participants.

      What would be more sensible, would be a "donation based channel". An actual TV channel, open to everyone, to which cost you can donate to (so it's cost neutral for the station) and material could be aired without re-negotiation. This would effectively allow them to open up their archives without any extra costs.

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  5. phuzz Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    The Essential Death and Horror

    Wonderful record (well, we had the CD version), came in handy for sound effects for school plays, and was hilarious to boot!

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  6. yeahyeahno
    Facepalm

    BBC Worldwide has been quitting retail

    If you read the BBC Worldwide annual report you will see that over the last few years they have been withdrawing from retail sales environment, and a couple of years ago sold BBC Audio to AudioGo.

    Basically, whilst I actually fully support this development by the BBC, about time too I would say, it does however not fit in with BBC Worldwide's strategy at all.

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  7. Antony Shepherd
    Happy

    Brilliant idea

    What I would like to see from this is stuff from the archive which probably wouldn't sell well enough to merit a DVD release, but could be put on this site as a cheap download instead.

    I loved the More Death and Horror sound effects record, but I swear I was hearing the sound effects from it in EVERYTHING for years!

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