DV
That'd be fine but impossible to do without large scale renegotiation of the indies agreement. The BBC loses rightsvery rapidly under that.
NJ
But that's no different to buying DVDs or videos of many BBC programmes, surely?
Neil Jones
Founding member
The biggest problem I had with it - and it may be an unfair criticism - would have gone along the lines of "I already pay a licence fee for all this stuff, why am I paying for it again?"
But that's no different to buying DVDs or videos of many BBC programmes, surely?
NG
The BBC could probably shut the licence fee debate down if it was able to make part of its huge back catalogue available for free if you have a licence fee number. Albeit commercial rivals would probably scream about unfair competition etc etc.
This always gets raised. Reality is that you have to charge extra for a large chunk of the library - as almost all archive, stills, music rights, writers fees, actors agreements, music performance rights, dancers rights etc contained within a show are currently only negotiated for UK TX + 30 day streaming/download iPlayer windows (unless the show is a co-pro or acquired in advance - then the income from this offsets the additional rights costs)
These rights contracts don't allow the BBC to continue to provide the content after this period without either paying again, or paying more in the first place. It's even worse for old shows - as they often had worse, not better, rights contracts in place.
There is very little output the BBC could offer indefinitely online without it costing more money. These fees are paid when the BBC sells a show commercially to another broadcaster, or when it sells it on DVD, Blu-ray or by download.
Charlie Brooker did a good explainer here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbrmaeiZ4RE (Ironically the YouTube copy no doubt ignores the rights implications...)
noggin
Founding member
The BBC could probably shut the licence fee debate down if it was able to make part of its huge back catalogue available for free if you have a licence fee number. Albeit commercial rivals would probably scream about unfair competition etc etc.
This always gets raised. Reality is that you have to charge extra for a large chunk of the library - as almost all archive, stills, music rights, writers fees, actors agreements, music performance rights, dancers rights etc contained within a show are currently only negotiated for UK TX + 30 day streaming/download iPlayer windows (unless the show is a co-pro or acquired in advance - then the income from this offsets the additional rights costs)
These rights contracts don't allow the BBC to continue to provide the content after this period without either paying again, or paying more in the first place. It's even worse for old shows - as they often had worse, not better, rights contracts in place.
There is very little output the BBC could offer indefinitely online without it costing more money. These fees are paid when the BBC sells a show commercially to another broadcaster, or when it sells it on DVD, Blu-ray or by download.
Charlie Brooker did a good explainer here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbrmaeiZ4RE (Ironically the YouTube copy no doubt ignores the rights implications...)
DV
A point that some programmes revert to their producers within the year of transmission now, so they're no longer the BBC's to distribute, hence the nightmare searching for some content on iTunes. The programmes do not link to the BBC Channel there at all.
JA
Are Atlantis and The Musketeers the only ones listed there that are even on DVD? BBC1 Dramas are more likely to get a release than BBC2 and 4 documentaries.
The main reason I used the store was to get items that were not available elsewhere or available at a significant discount
Here's my list of purchases ....
1066: A Year to Conquer England, Series 1
A Very British Romance with Lucy Worsley
All Aboard! The Canal Trip
All Aboard! The Country Bus
Armada: 12 Days to Save England
Art of France, Series 1
Atlantis, Series 1
Atlantis, Series 2
Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore
Britain Beneath Your Feet
Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney
Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities
Castles: Britain's Fortified History
Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War
City in the Sky
Colour: The Spectrum of Science
Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley
Galapagos
Genius of the Ancient World
Genius of the Modern World
Hidden Killers, The Post-War Home
Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher
Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit
Rome's Invisible City
Sacred Rivers with Simon Reeve
Sarah & Duck, Series 1
Sir Terry Wogan Remembered: Fifty Years at the BBC
The Beginning and End of the Universe
The Greatest Tomb On Earth: Secrets of Ancient China
The Musketeers, Series 1
The Musketeers, Series 2
The Science of Doctor Who
The Secrets of Quantum Physics
The Vikings Uncovered
Treasures of Ancient Greece
Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream
Most of which would never feature on Netflix, Amazon or iTunes.
Here's my list of purchases ....
1066: A Year to Conquer England, Series 1
A Very British Romance with Lucy Worsley
All Aboard! The Canal Trip
All Aboard! The Country Bus
Armada: 12 Days to Save England
Art of France, Series 1
Atlantis, Series 1
Atlantis, Series 2
Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore
Britain Beneath Your Feet
Britain's Ancient Capital: Secrets of Orkney
Byzantium: A Tale of Three Cities
Castles: Britain's Fortified History
Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War
City in the Sky
Colour: The Spectrum of Science
Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley
Galapagos
Genius of the Ancient World
Genius of the Modern World
Hidden Killers, The Post-War Home
Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher
Mary Beard's Ultimate Rome: Empire Without Limit
Rome's Invisible City
Sacred Rivers with Simon Reeve
Sarah & Duck, Series 1
Sir Terry Wogan Remembered: Fifty Years at the BBC
The Beginning and End of the Universe
The Greatest Tomb On Earth: Secrets of Ancient China
The Musketeers, Series 1
The Musketeers, Series 2
The Science of Doctor Who
The Secrets of Quantum Physics
The Vikings Uncovered
Treasures of Ancient Greece
Vienna: Empire, Dynasty and Dream
Most of which would never feature on Netflix, Amazon or iTunes.
Are Atlantis and The Musketeers the only ones listed there that are even on DVD? BBC1 Dramas are more likely to get a release than BBC2 and 4 documentaries.
DV
1066 is available on iTunes (surprisingly in my view as it's somewhat flawed in structure)
DV
I understand that we are likely to get an announcement early next month about a replacement offering for the content 'lost' with the closure. A series of licencing deals with third parties is expected to be announced.
BE
Is Iplayer's new "From the Archive" category have anything to do with this?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/archive/highlights
I understand that we are likely to get an announcement early next month about a replacement offering for the content 'lost' with the closure. A series of licencing deals with third parties is expected to be announced.
Is Iplayer's new "From the Archive" category have anything to do with this?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/categories/archive/highlights
DV
It goes some way to adding content, yes. Still doesn't resolve the recent material as on my list. As for the 'From the Archive' content a significant chunk of this has been available previously, under the BBC FOUR and latterly BBC TWO tabs. The amount offered has been increased, what's more significant is the apparent 'restoration' of some of the newly catalogued material. The quality of some of the material is now as good as current iPlayer contents. I also believe that some of the programming has been upconverted to HD and offered as such for the first time.
There's still more to come I think. Indeed I'll be disappointed if this is the end of the process. We're now five weeks from the final shutterring of the store.
There's still more to come I think. Indeed I'll be disappointed if this is the end of the process. We're now five weeks from the final shutterring of the store.
LL
London Lite
Founding member
Noticed when I re-purchased the Catherine Tate's Nan specials on Amazon Video, these are 1080p, compared to the BBC Store's 720p. Fleabag is also 1080p on Amazon.
NG
That's because the BBC Store version was an iPlayer encode usually - and there isn't, currently, a 1080p profile in deployment for iPlayer.
(The highest quality iPlayer content available currently is the 1080i version on Sky - but that's a progressive download, rather than streaming option and is within a nailed down platform with known-good handling if 1080i. The BBC would be unlikely to deploy a 1080i profile for the wider world because of the pain of deinterlacing. This is why we have 720p50/720/50p deinterlaced from 1080i25/1080/50i as a max on most platforms)
noggin
Founding member
Noticed when I re-purchased the Catherine Tate's Nan specials on Amazon Video, these are 1080p, compared to the BBC Store's 720p. Fleabag is also 1080p on Amazon.
That's because the BBC Store version was an iPlayer encode usually - and there isn't, currently, a 1080p profile in deployment for iPlayer.
(The highest quality iPlayer content available currently is the 1080i version on Sky - but that's a progressive download, rather than streaming option and is within a nailed down platform with known-good handling if 1080i. The BBC would be unlikely to deploy a 1080i profile for the wider world because of the pain of deinterlacing. This is why we have 720p50/720/50p deinterlaced from 1080i25/1080/50i as a max on most platforms)
IT
You aren’t really losing anything in the 720 50p iplayer stream really on interlaced material.