BBC begins trials of digital media player

by Philip Buxton, Revolution UK 24-Oct-05

The BBC has begun trials of the integrated media player (iMP) that will help shape the corporation's approach to online broadcasting for years to come.

BBC director of new media and technology Ashley Highfield, who topped
Revolution's first Power 50 this month, said the pilot with 5,000 BBC
users began in September and would run until the end of the year.

The trial will help the Beeb to test its success in addressing a series

of technical obstacles before it can offer full access to its
programming from the past seven days over the web.

These include digital rights management and keeping the content free for
UK licence-fee payers. However, the trial will also provide insight into
which kinds of content will prove most popular on the web and form the
foundation for the provisionally titled MyBBCPlayer, which is planned
for launch next year.

MyBBCPlayer will aim to combine the seven-day 'catch-up' service of the
iMP with live-streamed BBC TV channels and content from the
archives.

Highfield said: "This trial builds on all of those technical issues to
take them further - to make sure we have good digital rights management;
that we can keep it within the UK; that we can use multicasting and
peer-to-peer - but then it answers the really big question, which is
'does the audience want this?'."

See cover story, p30.