A chance to Catch Up!

Was just searching for iPlayer Streaming on Google and found a post by ninthspace on why they don’t think the iPlayer is a very good idea - mainly focusing on the fact that shows can be recorded with Sky+ and the like without the risk of download timeouts, without the need for a PC and implied - without the need for DRM.

Well I’ll explain the DRM thing in a minute, and why Sky+ isn’t legally any better than the DRM thing - but first the point of having the chance to download a show is that, if you missed the recording, forgot to record, if it clashed or even if you didn’t know it was on until afterwards - you can still get it.

But first the PC point. Although at the moment the iPlayer is only available for Windows - you’ll soon be able to watch shows (via flash) with a Mac, Linux or even still Windows - you’ll even eventually be able to watch it through services like Virgin and BT.

NinthSpace complains that it will be “a Flash-based version of iPlayer. Streaming only; no downloads.”

Personally I think the BBC should drop downloads from the iPlayer anyway. All the rights holders will allow them to do is offer downloads for a short period of time jammed full of DRM - it’s basically an opportunity to borrow the show for a week or two.

With streaming it makes it much more like actual television and the misconception that you get with downloading (that you put the effort in to download a show means you get to keep it) is taken away.

They can then offer a download to own service (or allow the rights holders to sell the shows online to own through third parties) that doesn’t intefer with the concept of iPlayer (a chance to catch up on the broadcast show).

After all, when the BBC buys the rights to a show (or even commissions a show internally) they are only leasing it from the various rights holders for a specific number of showings - after that more money would need to be paid (to music rights holders, to writers, performers and others).

So the licence fee covers the cost of the BBC paying for say 5 showings of an episode of Spooks and two weeks worth of on demand viewing. After that the rights revert back to KUDOS who can do with it as they please - or the BBC can purchase more repeat rights.

Think of the licence fee as a rental fee - it allows the BBC to rent a show for a specific period of time then they have to return it. This is why they can’t offer proper, all time downloads - they don’t have the rights.

Also - legally if you record a show of the TV (under British copyright law) you are obliged to destroy the copy within 28 days (or thereabouts). Having a tape or Sky+ or even a DVD recording of a TV show doesn’t give you the right to keep it forever - it’s just that most people do.

Well - in the case of Tape most people forget to label it and then forget what’s on it and then later watch it and wonder why the hell they recorded it in the first place. Which is why I say Thank God for Sky+.

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