I take a look at what could happen over a couple of weeks if the BBC opened up their iPlayer platform tomorrow…
Despite taking some heavy flak from free software proponents and non-Windows users, the BBC’s iPlayer has turned out to be quite a success, thanks in part to a recent deluge of advertisements. Convenience, it seems, has trumped any DRM worries for the time being. Where users of non-Windows platforms are left out in the cold is access to the full-resolution downloads, which are currently Windows-only. Users of Macs or Linux machines are limited to the lower quality, streaming Flash player. Streaming programmes also expire long before the downloaded versions.
As we’ve seen during the past few weeks, the demand for unrestricted, platform agnostic access is alive and well, as evidenced by the various hacks which have surfaced. The BBC has been playing cat and mouse for a while now with software developer Paul Battley, author of the iPhone spoofing hack, which enables users on any computer to download DRM-free, H264 encoded files designed for the iPhone. Also available for users who haven’t updated to Windows Media Player 11 is the FairUse4WM tool, which is able to strip the DRM from most WMV files, leaving, in effect, full quality files with no expiration date. These can then be passed freely between different users, computers and devices.
So why does the BBC insist on keeping the locks firmly on its content? The official line is due to licensing issues, particularly with older content, which is understandable. Often, it’s hard enough to agree on the licensing terms for broadcast, let alone for distribution in the brave new world of online media. A second issue is that of content expiry. Currently, most iPlayer programmes expire after 30 days. With DRM-free media this would certainly be impossible to enforce. It already is. Current DRM can be circumvented easily, and the programmes available on iPlayer can also be freely recorded on PCs, VCRs and DVD recorders, all of which produce non-expiring copies. What I’d like to see is an agreement between content producers and the BBC which completely opens up the iPlayer platform. For the moment, that’s something of a Utopian vision but given the ubiquity of BBC content on P2P networks, all that remains is for the BBC and its content partners to capitalise on the true potential of the web as a delivery mechanism for TV.
“When information is generally useful, redistributing it makes humanity wealthier no matter who is distributing and no matter who is receiving.” - Richard Stallman
So, what would happen if the BBC opened up iPlayer completely? What would the response be over the first couple of weeks? My vision of it is as follows:
Week One
On the first day, the BBC updates its website with programme download links in multiple formats, discarding the crippled Windows Media files. The files on offer are:
- For Windows: Windows Media Video (of the DRM-free variety)
- For Mac: H264 encoded Quicktime
- For Linux: OGG Theora and H264
The BBC already delivers its WMV content at a bitrate of around 1Mbps. Bearing in mind that this is standard definition content, the quality and bitrate are high. All the above formats offer great quality at similar bitrates. Allowing Mac and Linux-friendly formats gives users of those platforms access to video that is far higher quality than the streaming format provided by Flash.
The existing Kontiki download manager is abandoned in favour of a cross-platform Java client. Users are still asked to seed downloaded content to reduce the BBC’s distribution costs, just as they are by the existing iPlayer client.
The BBC sees an immediate benefit as Mac and Linux users flock to download and seed the full quality files. The streaming bandwidth required by the BBC is reduced as the percentage of viewers using the flash streaming service instead of the download service falls from its current level of around 70%.
Week Two
iPlayer content begins to be shared more readily on popular BitTorrent sites such as Mininova. Users quickly begin to transcode and re-compress the original files to better suit a wide range of devices such as portable media players, PDAs and DVD players.
Week three and beyond
In order to further distribute its content, the BBC publishes a full specification and accompanying API for iPlayer, allowing third parties to develop interfaces for its content. The BBC’s radio streams are also added to the iPlayer platform. Linux developers are able to create iPlayer video and radio plugins for MythTV and Banshee. The BBC receives statistical information from its official BitTorrent network about the popularity of channels and content, allowing it to better fund new media.
“[The BBC is] free from both political and commercial influence and answers only to its viewers and listeners.” - BBC Charter
From there, the possibilities are even more exciting. The BBC is a unique media organisation and is perhaps more capable of redefining the playing field than commercial broadcasters. Certainly the BBC possesses amazing potential, let’s hope they unleash iPlayer’s.