iPlayer is streaming! And cable! And more!

Published on 6 November 2007 in , , , ,

I’m probably paying far more attention to the whole iPlayer saga than my sanity allows, but I do find some of the comments interesting.

It’s often little throwaway comments, little asides almost, that pop out and say hello to me. Especially ones where people think they know more about the BBC’s plans than the BBC!

The one that crops up here and there is nicely shown in a document released by the Open Source Consortium – an analysis of the iPlayer to accompany an open letter sent to my boss, Ashley Highfield.

The document makes some interesting points, some which I read and think “If only life was as easy!”. But the one that I really like is this:

The streaming ‘version’ of iPlayer is not the iPlayer…

OSC Analysis: iPlayer

Like I said, it’s almost a throwaway aside. Not hugely important, I’ve seen mentioned – and talked about too – on mailing lists like backstage.bbc.co.uk.

The notion that, somehow, the only thing iPlayer is about is downloading TV programmes on a PC alas ain’t right. It’s actually a master-brand that covers a whole raft of on-demand TV and radio proposals – including the version which will be launching on Virgin Media’s cable platform next year. Or at least that’s how it was sold to me about 18 months ago.

Of course it is true that publicly, the download side has always had most of the attention. And now when the BBC management start bigging up the other sides of the equation, it’s no surprise that some people interpret it as a last minute hasty rethink. Methinks there’s a few lessons we all need to learn from this one.

1 Comment

  • Phil Wilson says:

    Well, it’s not just the bit which has the attention, it’s the *only* bit the audience has seen to now.
    Now the streaming version is here and I can actually use it though, it’s very good.