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BBC Trust blocks Open iPlayer... for now
20 Oct 2009 | 13.43 Europe/London
The BBC Trust today turned down plans for the BBC to share the iPlayer among a ‘Federation’ of public service broadcasters – namely, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.
In what must have seemed a little too much like a return to the days of Kangaroo the BBC had suggested that iPlayer could be shared among the country’s public service broadcasters. Just as Kangaroo seemed like adding too much content on one platform, raising competition concerns which saw the Government outlaw it, the BBC Trust has labelled the new proposed ‘Federation’ of broadcaster behind the Open iPlayer initiative “too complex”.
The Trust has not ruled out iPlayer being shared by other broadcasters but is requiring the BBC Executive to come back to it with plans that are “clearer and more transparent”. The Trust has also pointed that it is “open to considering an alternative proposal for the licensing of the iPlayer technology to third parties if that can be done on a simple, fair and commercial basis”.
In other words, the Trust is not against the licensing of iPlayer technology to other broadcasters but forming a ‘federation’ of content providers on the service is a step too far.
State Aid concerns
BBC Trustee Dianne Coyle told SamKnows that one of the problems with the proposals was that, just like the ill-fated Kangaroo project, there would be competition concerns. Furthermore, EU State Aid rules forbid the BBC from using licence fee payers’ money to fund a platform which is then shared with a ‘federation’ of UK broadcasters. It would, in essence, look like the BBC were using state money to bolster domestic broadcasters’ online services.
Coyle was keen to point out to SamKnows that the plans do not impact the proposed Canvas open platform for distributing online content to set top boxes. This is a proposal for an open platform, she insisted, and was not being considered within the scope of this BBC Trust examination which was purely aimed at the complexities around an Open iPlayer ‘Federation’ of broadcasters.
If the BBC Executive were to come back with plans that were less complex, and potentially less controversial – relying on BBC Worldwide licensing the technology to individual broadcasters for a modest fee – the Trust revealed it could gives the corporation an answer by next Spring.
In what must have seemed a little too much like a return to the days of Kangaroo the BBC had suggested that iPlayer could be shared among the country’s public service broadcasters. Just as Kangaroo seemed like adding too much content on one platform, raising competition concerns which saw the Government outlaw it, the BBC Trust has labelled the new proposed ‘Federation’ of broadcaster behind the Open iPlayer initiative “too complex”.
The Trust has not ruled out iPlayer being shared by other broadcasters but is requiring the BBC Executive to come back to it with plans that are “clearer and more transparent”. The Trust has also pointed that it is “open to considering an alternative proposal for the licensing of the iPlayer technology to third parties if that can be done on a simple, fair and commercial basis”.
In other words, the Trust is not against the licensing of iPlayer technology to other broadcasters but forming a ‘federation’ of content providers on the service is a step too far.
State Aid concerns
BBC Trustee Dianne Coyle told SamKnows that one of the problems with the proposals was that, just like the ill-fated Kangaroo project, there would be competition concerns. Furthermore, EU State Aid rules forbid the BBC from using licence fee payers’ money to fund a platform which is then shared with a ‘federation’ of UK broadcasters. It would, in essence, look like the BBC were using state money to bolster domestic broadcasters’ online services.
Coyle was keen to point out to SamKnows that the plans do not impact the proposed Canvas open platform for distributing online content to set top boxes. This is a proposal for an open platform, she insisted, and was not being considered within the scope of this BBC Trust examination which was purely aimed at the complexities around an Open iPlayer ‘Federation’ of broadcasters.
If the BBC Executive were to come back with plans that were less complex, and potentially less controversial – relying on BBC Worldwide licensing the technology to individual broadcasters for a modest fee – the Trust revealed it could gives the corporation an answer by next Spring.