BBC launches iPlayer with DRM strings attached
31st Jul 2007
By Chris Tomlinson
Last week the BBC finally launched its free online on-demand catch up service, which theoretically means we can now all watch any BBC programme we missed on our computers.
This involves downloading some software the Beeb have, rather unimaginatively, called the iPlayer before you can access their archive of programmes.
Unfortunately, you need a PC running Windows XP for it to work. Although BBC assure us that Mac and Windows Vista versions are definitely on the way.
The iPlayer has apparently been in development for some time, but has been delayed by technical and regulatory problems for many months. In fact the iPlayer is still in beta, which is software developer's jargon for: 'we know it's still full of bugs, would you all be so kind as to help us find them all?'.
Meanwhile, its commercial rivals Sky, ITV and Channel 4 have all managed to release their own.
Now these guys had some serious commercial problems moving their content on to the web. They need people to either pay for the service or work out how to sell advertising in an on-demand world.
They all came up with different Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions, which require clever technology to stop people copying or sharing programmes once downloaded.
The BBC's content is free (well, paid for by us via the TV licence). So why not just upload all the programs to You Tube and be done with it?
Or, if You Tube is too scary a place, just put it on the BBC websites.
But the BBC have missed the opportunity to let us view its content with good old Internet Explorer because, despite being free to air, they too feel it needs deploying with DRM strings attached.
They sell many of their programmes abroad and don't want to risk this lucrative revenue stream from being undermined.
The iPlayer lets you download BBC content up to seven days from its initial terrestrial broadcast. It then automatically deletes it from your hard drive 30 days later. Should you be tempted to keep it longer, or indeed upload it to You Tube yourself, it will prevent you.
The reason the web works is that we can pretty much access all of it using our web browser of choice. If I had to fire up a special browser, provided by each site I wanted to view, I'd probably not bother.
The BBC have simply added yet another piece of proprietary technology we need to view broadcast content online, despite having the advantage of not having to charge for it.
The non-commercial status of the BBC is often challenged by other broadcasters, who complain of unfair advantages this subsidy provides.
If the BBC had provided its content that we have, essentially, already paid for DRM free via a simple web browser, they would have silenced their critics.
Chris Tomlinson is Head of Digital at WAA.
Comments on this article
smily commented 10 months ago
I installed it too, and it runs on the Kontiki content delivery system.Its really intrusive and lower spec computers will really struggle downloading and watching a program at the same time. Its a shame, this could have been donw much better.
Mac commented 10 months ago
The software you download also eats up your net bandwidth even when you close it.... so I uninstalled it.