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BBC iPlayer launch date: July 27th
By Mack Male | June 29, 2007 at 3:59 pm
The BBC has announced a launch date for iPlayer, it’s on demand TV service. Starting July 27th, users will be able to use the software to download popular BBC content seven days after its first transmission. Nothing has changed on the technology front - it will still be Windows-only initially, and it will still use Windows Media DRM (the BBC website says it will work with Windows Media Player 10 or above). The application will be improved too:
Over time other features will be added to the iPlayer including live streaming of programmes, the BBC Radio Player and “series stacking”, which will allow users to download episodes from series retrospectively.
Director General Mark Thompson compared the launch of iPlayer to the launch of color television (which the BBC introduced 40 years ago) in terms of its impact. I think that remains to be seen, but the BBC could indeed be on to something.
I was reading some blog posts about the launch date news, and came across Tim Anderson’s post. He’s excited for the software, but worries that using Microsoft technology could doom the software:
This aspect bothers me as well, not only because of cross-platform issues, but because I question whether Microsoft is able to deliver DRM that just works.
Umm, can you give me an example of any other DRM that “just works”? I don’t think you can use DRM and “just works” in the same sentence, at least not from the consumer’s point of view. Like the Open Source Consortium, I think Tim has picked the wrong enemy.
Tags: bbc, DRM, iplayer, microsoft, osc, windows media
Topics: DRM, Windows Media Player |
