- Wednesday, 7 January 2009
- INQ Mobile
- RSS Feed
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act - George Orwell
BBC complete the online set
THE BEEB announced today that as of next Thursday BBC One and BBC Two will be available to watch live online.
The announcement made by Director of BBC Vision, Jana Bennett means that these two channels will join BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, CBeebies and BBC News which are already simulcast.
These channels will all be available through the beeb website on several internet enabled devices as well as through Iplayer.
Jana Bennett said, "The launch of BBC One and BBC Two online completes our commitment to make our portfolio of channels available to watch on the internet.”
She continues to say that from 27 November, licence fee payers will be able to watch BBC programmes, live, wherever they are in the UK on their computers, mobile phones and other portable devices.
This highlights that only those paying a license fee are legally allowed to watch beeb programmes online.
Research by Ofcom into the communications market 2008 reveals that UK consumers watching TV online has doubled in the last 12 months.
In the US, reports show around nearly 20 percent of households with internet access use it to watch television broadcasts either via channel sites or Youtube, which is double the number from two years ago. µ
L'Inq
Beeb
Share this:
Business Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
I'm sure they'll use this as an argument that households that don't have a tv, may still have a pc - so therefore would have to pay for a license...
"This highlights that only those paying a license fee are legally allowed to watch beeb programmes online." And later the BBC will argue that you have access to their programming via the Internet, thus you have to pay for a "TV license" for ever computer with Internet access. Won't happen? Already happened in Germany.
"This highlights that only those paying a license fee are legally allowed to watch beeb programmes online." nope you only need a license fee to watch live broadcasts, whether online or through a tv. watching a show after it's been broadcast through iplayer is fine.
Still sucks for us expats, I'd have no problem paying for the privelige of watching UK TV online but that obviously is too difficult for the BBC to implement....
Another backdoor method of introducing the TV licence to use of the internet.
Introducing more bandwidth issues and license-info theft to britain, yay.
The news clips on bbc.co.uk (now also bbc.com) use doubleclick.com for advertising revenue, bbc is in need of money, with this new system they have the license holder name/address/etc. and can track what they watch online on bbc, which would be very marketable info, now who would trust that after they already are in bed with doubleclick.com? So you better make a choice if you care if advertisers (and the government too) can track everything you watched before signing up.
I've never quite understood the logic of the TV Licensing stipulations: somehow iPlayer doesn't need a license to use it because the programming is not broadcast live, but if I were to record stuff on a PVR without watching it until a later time (essentially the same function as non-yet-Open-Sauce iPlayer but without DRM) I need a license presumably because the programming is live from the point of view of my PVR. Which is ludicrous. I agree with the TV license, and that it does provide good value for money for those who chose to watch programming on a television. But this recent move to simulcast the live broadcasts online muddies the waters and could potentially give the BBC some leverage into demanding a license to be paid by all internet users, even those who don't have a TV and don't choose to view BBC programming online - just because they have the option to do so. I rarely have enough free time to watch TV, but I'm an avid Radio 4 listener. In 1971 the separate radio license was abolished, but I often listen to the live feed online, listen to shows on iPlayer and download the occasional podcast - all without requiring a license. It's only a matter of time before even the BBC's radio output, and possibly all UK internet use, is somehow in need of licensing...
The license thing is so you can watch it from foreign places obviously, the iplayer currently won't allow non-british IP's access and so even if you are british you can't watch your BBC you paid for when you are away from the country a while. Not that it's not inherent of politicians to abuse anything they can and mess up any fun they detect amongst their people.