Comments on: BBC Online free via The Cloud

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:20:12 +0000

James Cridland – Yes, good point – if the BBC drives adoption then the rising tide of WiFi use could lift all boats. I guess I shouldn’t be curmudgeonly about this.

By: James Cridland

James Cridland — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:21:59 +0000

Last time I checked (in the Wetherspoons down the road, because my broadband had gone phut), I could get both T3 and Channel4.com free on The Cloud.

While BBC-bashing is clearly de rigeur this week, I’d meekly point out that I’ve already paid for the BBC’s websites, and it’s the BBC’s job to ensure its content reaches those that have paid for it. In any case, iPods and iPhones, PSPs and DS Lites all have web browsers and wifi in them: I’ve never seen anyone sitting in a hotspot area using one. (Apart from me.) If the BBC drives the habit of using public wifi – a habit not too prevalent right now – then the commercial marketplace will benefit.

(Interestingly, the ads don’t show on T3 – I checked. The ad server’s still being blocked. Oops.)

In the interests of full disclosure, I ought to point out that I do work for the BBC, but you’d know if I was making an official statement on behalf of my employer, because I’d say so.

By: links for 2007-10-16 | jon bounds

links for 2007-10-16 | jon bounds — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:19:14 +0000

[...] bbc.co.uk free via The Cloud & Flash video comes to the site Slightly buried:”broadcaster has signed a deal with Adobe to provide Flash video for the whole of the BBC’s video services, including a streaming version of its iPlayer.” (tags: media geekery flash bbc) [...]

By: Shafqat

Shafqat — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:48:29 +0000

The implications of such a WiFi stampede are significant. If content providers are willing to pay The Cloud (or others) to bring their content to the forefront and get wider, free distribution, us consumers will benefit tremendously. If this really is the trend, I’ll be very happy to sit and consume for free. Of course, there is a downside. Our content in that case will be effectively be controlled/editted by those companies that can afford to strike deals with The Cloud etc.

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:57:53 +0000

That’s really interesting I hadn’t heard about T3. Perhaps the BBC will kick off a WiFi stampede amongst commercial sites afterall. It would make perticular sense, perhaps, for sites aimed specifically at new-gen, big-screen mobiles like the iPhone….

By: Scot

Scot — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:28:44 +0000

I doubt there’s anything stopping commercial sites from cutting deals with The Cloud – last time I checked, T3 and a couple other sites were available for free on The Cloud.

By: Dave Nattriss

Dave Nattriss — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:10:56 +0000

Don’t forget that there’s nothing stopping ‘another commercial service’ from doing a similar deal with The Cloud (or any other wireless network) so that their content is also available freely.

Commercial terrestrial TV and radio channels (both analogue and digital), for instance, cover all of their distribution costs (i.e. transmission over the airwaves), merely requiring their viewers/listeners to own a modern TV/radio, as do free newspapers like the Metro, thelondonpaper etc. (they even pay people to hand them out in the street!), so why can’t commercial content providers do that in the online world too? Any traffic they lose as a result of this deal is simply because they are relying on their users to pay to access their sites (via wireless/broadband Internet access), whereas the BBC have simply taken the initiative. The Cloud will be paid by the BBC for this, so they could easily charge other content providers in the same way.

It’s perfectly fair in my opinion.

By: Mike Butcher

Mike Butcher — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:10:58 +0000

Rob – I take you point, and yes it does seem to be a natural extension. However, in the ‘old world’ you paid for your TV license and got access to commercial channels *as well* as the BBC. Under this model you get only the BBC, while commercial ‘channels’ (sites) get no traffic at all (unless people are paying AGAIN, aside from their TV license, to access the Cloud). Complicated huh. So there is no level playing field under this arrangement. And the Cloud is hardly likely to say to commercial sites “Sure, we’ll send your content out for you for free! We don’t care if people get free content without having to subscribe to our network. Come on in, fill your boots!”

By: Rob Mason

Rob Mason — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:55:29 +0000

The BBC provide excellent content (news, TV, freeview, website, etc) and all their doing here is extending the content out to more people, many of whom already pay for it.

The BBC are ideally placed to compete with traditional commercial providers in this space and it appears to me to be an evolution of their traditional position.

By: Rick Curran

Rick Curran — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:14:40 +0000

And if you remember, The Cloud will also provide the WiFi network for iPhone users signed up to the O2 network. So they will get free BBC News on their iPhones too.

But not the Flash video though as there’s no Flash player on the iPhone at the moment.

In regards to the previous comment by Shafqat, technically the BBC’s price point isn’t really zero as people pay for it in a licence fee. However, the quality of the BBC output is the main reason why people will watch it. To draw a simple analogy – there are plenty of free channels as part of any satellite / cable TV package however most of them suck so it’s the ones with good quality shows that wil get watched. Same holds true on the web.

By: Shafqat

Shafqat — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 07:24:49 +0000

Free is always tempting, but at the end of the day, content is king. If there are other better, more engaging content services out there, I don’t think the BBC will be able to hold on to the masses for long just based on their pricepoint (zero).

Mike, re: the “major step into the Web 2.0 world”, I dont think you are the only one who is perplexed. Perhaps Ashley should elucidate us?

By: BBC iPlayer grows up « I’m Simon Dickson.

BBC iPlayer grows up « I’m Simon Dickson. — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:30:56 +0000

[...] astute to announce deals with several networks at once? Instead it’ll just fuel more anticompetitive talk… and distract from the genuine step forward on [...]