BBC Trust greenlights on-demand TV service
- Added:
- Jan 29, 2007
The changes proposed by the Trust include limiting the storage window for seven-day catch up of individual TV shows to 30 days, rather than the 13 weeks requested by BBC management.
The Trust, which oversees the BBC, said the various iPlayer on-demand services would cost an estimated £20m-£30m a year, or £131m over the next five years.
Diane Coyle, the BBC Trust member who chaired the public value test steering group, said: "Our view is that the BBC's new on-demand services are likely to deliver significant public value, and should be allowed to proceed, but subject to certain conditions in order to reduce the potential negative market impact".
The Trust has also taken on board Ofcom's reservations about the market impact of the iPlayer's series stacking facility.
Series stacking will only be available for certain kinds of programme, the Trust has ruled, "with a distinct run, with a beginning and end, and a narrative arc or those which are landmark series with exceptionally high impact".
EastEnders, Horizon, Top Gear and Blue Peter would be excluded from series stacking under the Trust's iPlayer proposals, but series such as Bleak House, Planet Earth, Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing would be included.
The Trust has also asked BBC management to ensure that the iPlayer on-demand TV services work on all computer operating systems, not just with Microsoft applications.
The original iPlayer proposal would have made the service available only to computer users with Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10.
The Trust will also draw up a policy for syndicating BBC on-demand content to other internet operators such as Google.
The Trust has also ruled out the provision of podcast-style audio downloads and bookmarking shows for download.
Other issues arising from the public value and market impact assessments included parental controls and the question of whether the iPlayer should feature content from sources other than the BBC.