BBC Adds Shows to iTunes

[aperantos]

Just to add - probably as much for the sake of other British members, let alone Americans and Canadians - that the majority of western European countries use a TV licence fee system to fund public broadcasting. But only in the UK and Scandinavia do you get commercial free television in return.

In the rest of Europe public broadcasters also carry advertising, sometimes only during certain hours of the day, in addition to being funded through a licence.

The only countries in western Europe not to require a TV licence are Spain and Portugal, and the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium. In all of which public broadcasting is funded by a combination of advertising and public funding through general taxation.

Almost 20% of the BBCs funding for public broadcasting comes from BBC Worldwide, with the rest coming from public funding through the licence fee.

So for those complaining about having to pay 'again' to buy programmes from iTunes or on DVDs, the alternative to doing this would be for an increase of up to 25% in the licence fee to make up for that income.

Michael.

 

[Cabbit]

Just to add - probably as much for the sake of other British members, let alone Americans and Canadians - that the majority of western European countries use a TV licence fee system to fund public broadcasting. But only in the UK and Scandinavia do you get commercial free television in return.

In the rest of Europe public broadcasters also carry advertising, sometimes only during certain hours of the day, in addition to being funded through a licence.

The only countries in western Europe not to require a TV licence are Spain and Portugal, and the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium. In all of which public broadcasting is funded by a combination of advertising and public funding through general taxation.

Almost 20% of the BBCs funding for public broadcasting comes from BBC Worldwide, with the rest coming from public funding through the licence fee.

So for those complaining about having to pay 'again' to buy programmes from iTunes or on DVDs, the alternative to doing this would be for an increase of up to 25% in the licence fee to make up for that income.

Michael.

If the BBC can not stand on its own feet without forcing people to pay for channels they do not watch then like every other company they need to answer to there share holders and step up the programing to make it worth wile or like company's do.. go bust.

 

[JQW]

I appear to have stumbled upon the Daily Mail website by mistake...

 

[joseph2166]

We have to stop this whole complaining culture. The BBC IS the best television producer in the world without question. Having a film without adverts on mainstream television is a pleasure.

Oh I quite agree with you - long live the bbc!

 

[Stella]

If the BBC can not stand on its own feet without forcing people to pay for channels they do not watch then like every other company they need to answer to there share holders and step up the programing to make it worth wile or like company's do.. go bust.

From my memories of ITV, the content was pure *****: Soap Operas ( multiple), reality TV and police / detective related shows.

British TV would suffer greatly if BBC was forced to compete commercially. You'd probably never have great shows such as The Two Ronnies, Porridge, Only Fools & Horses, Men behaving Badly ( though originally ITV ), Dr Who, Torchwood etc etc.

In its current state, the BBC can take more risks in its programming.

The UK is always on a quest to destroy its great institutions in the sake of 'progress' and 'change'.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Meh, lame. I was hoping for free rentals of BBC shows on AppleTV for 7 days after broadcast. Maybe they'll add that too when the Movies rental service appears in the UK (in about 2020). An AppleTV that can access all the stuff that iPlayer gets as free rentals (and free HD versions too) would appear under my TV in milliseconds after launch.

Edit: Thinking about it, I'm sure this wouldn't be too hard for them to do. Free access via AppleTV 'rentals' for 7 days after broadcast and then available for archive purchase 8 days after release. Now *that* seems pretty darned good and would give a whole lot of meaning to the "8 days after broadcast" bit. Now we just have to wait for the AppleTV movie rental service to launch in the UK.

 

[Peace]

So let me get this straight.

Citizens in the UK already pay a hefty fee to watch BBC programs then get to pay more to download them from iTunes while the US gets American Idol ?


I'm gonna go shoot myself..

 

[jacg]

It may have been said already, but why can't UK licence payers download recent programmes for free using the secure rental technology already built into iTunes? (In the same way that iPlayer does for certain users I think). That way licence payers have access to the content and the option to buy to keep if they want (also via iTunes, or via DVD, etc).

Maybe it will come?

 

[DaBrain]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/licencefee/

Thanks for the link. The below info really took me by surprise, especially the last sentence:
The annual cost of a colour TV licence (set by the Government) is currently £135.50. That works out at £11.29 per month - about 37p per day for each household.

A black and white TV licence is £45.50.

The licence (whether colour or black and white) is free if you are 75 or over, and half-price if you are registered blind.

Say what? --)))

 

[QuarterSwede]

Please dear Apple god (steve) Top Gear available in US and I will spend every cent I have on it.

Amen brother! I'm tired of seeing it "new" 2 YEARS after it was originally taped.

 

[connectcctv@mac]

Oh I quite agree with you - long live the bbc!

God Save the BBC and the Queen.


Please stop complaining about the License fee. Look how much people pay for Sky and all those crap ads. Just look at what we get compared with rest of the world. Top quality Radio and mostly TV. Its about the only thing the rest of world wished they had.

 

[garty]

I appear to have stumbled upon the Daily Mail website by mistake...

+++ Best comment so far!

 

[skiwhitman]

what's a license fee payer? (obviously I'm in the US!)

nevermind - found the post by iJed
thanks

 

[atlendor]

But can we get reruns of Coupling?

Yep, I'd concur with that. Good call.

In fact (in my opinion) the available iTunes BBC shows are fairly bad. Where is Blackadder? How about Absolutely fabulous?

 

[Sandfleaz]

Would love to be able to get Torchwood!
.

 

[babyj]

The licence (whether colour or black and white) is free if you are 75 or over, and half-price if you are registered blind.

Say what? --)))

I have a laugh at them charging blind people every time I renew my license. I've always wondered how they came up with that - maybe it is because they only miss out on half of it as they can hear the tv, but not watch it.

Anyone who reckons the license is a rip off needs a reality check. The amount of quality programming you get for the money is pretty incredible; sports, comedy, drama, news - all of which is the best in the UK by some distance and you don't have to put up with constant ad breaks. Plus its all covered through radio, the internet and digital tv as well.

It also pays for BBC World Service radio, it might not be of any use to anyone in the UK but its an extremely highly regarded station all around the world. Plenty of people in other countries rely on it to provide unbiased news coverage, which simply isn't available for them anywhere else.

Sure it would be great if we got access to the entire BBC archive for free as well but that isn't how it works. The tv license covers you to watch / listen again for 7 days after broadcast but that is it and that's the way it always has been.

I hope they start selling to other countries via iTunes as well - the potential extra income it could generate would pay for a lot of new productions. Hopefully they'll sort something out to add the iPlayer service to iTunes, so we can watch on our iPods rather than just through their website.

 

[cecemf]

So how does this work for non-UKers? Another question might be... As a UKer, can you download US shows? I'd love to get some BBC documentary stuff (and pay for it too!), as I can't access the site to watch.

No in the UK we can not acces the US content, for exemple in the UK we have only TV show (very very few) not movies on iTunes.

This is scandalous that we have to pay on iTunes for BBC Series when is free to windows user via the BBC websites (iPlayer, not compatible with mac until end 2008)

I'M NOT GOING TO PAY MY TV LICENCE IF I HAVE TO PAY TWICE ! more at $200 licence !!!!

 

[babyj]

This is scandalous that we have to pay on iTunes for BBC Series when is free to windows user via the BBC websites (iPlayer, not compatible with mac until end 2008).

You can watch for free on the BBC websites from your Mac as well.

What you can't do is download content to watch on your iPod or through iTunes, that is the bit that is coming by the end of 2008. Or earlier if they can sort a deal out with Apple to use their DRM - its the lack of a suitable DRM that is stopping them from doing it at the moment.

 

[leumluath]

It would be very nice is those of us who paid the £120 ($240) per year to the BBC to watch their broadcasts could get their TV Shows through iTunes for free. Then that really would be good news!

This current price makes me want to look else where.

Is that all you lot are bloody whining about, with the terrible license fee? If you want the BBC (America) in the states, here's how it goes:

It's not broadcast, so pay for satellite or cable. In my case, Comcast. It's not on basic cable, you have to pay extra for digital. Oops, not on "starter" digital either, have to pay more for "Digital Classic." So:

$55/month basic cable
$15/month Digital Classic
$10/month extra fees, taxes, and other charges.

So, figure $80/month for the Beeb plus lots of drivel, all filled with commercials. $960 per year. Four times your terrible "license fee!" And in my case, I want to see the Formula 1 races. For that I need to add a "sports Package" to get Speed TV and a lot of other stuff I don't want. That's another $84/year.

 

[jemoth]

Just to somewhat add to the chorus....
I'm in the US and would love to be able to download Dr. Who. I have no idea if the *new series sucks or not but I would be willing to pay to find out.




*new -I get the 60's - 80's series at the local library and haven't seen any of the 2000's.

The new series rocks, you can probably get it from Netflix, or, if you have patience, Acquisition.

 

[mudaudio]

Thinking about it, I'm sure this wouldn't be too hard for them to do. Free access via AppleTV 'rentals' for 7 days after broadcast and then available for archive purchase 8 days after release. Now *that* seems pretty darned good and would give a whole lot of meaning to the "8 days after broadcast" bit. Now we just have to wait for the AppleTV movie rental service to launch in the UK.

it certainly gives meaning to the 8 days thing. I hope this happens, because i'm not interested in 'owning' most of the content, just catching up aka iplayer. and the ability to access via apple tv would make me buy one too!

 

[TurboSC]

Top Gear!!!

Y, E, S, Yes.

 

[aforty]

Silly Brits, that's not how you spell "Program"

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

it certainly gives meaning to the 8 days thing. I hope this happens, because i'm not interested in 'owning' most of the content, just catching up aka iplayer. and the ability to access via apple tv would make me buy one too!

Exactly. In theory, everyone would be happy. Part of the TV license money would go towards paying Apple for the bandwidth used to broadcast it to AppleTVs (which would still be peanuts compared to through-the-air broadcasting costs), the BBC and the companies making the shows would get their money for long term purchases just like they do for buying DVDs, Apple would get money from the BBC to cover the bandwidth used and for all shows sold, Apple would get money for the purchases of AppleTVs (I'd buy one) and it would in general bring more customers through iTunes. From the consumer's point of view, we'd be getting exactly what we get with TV/DVD releases now but in a digital format.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Silly Brits, that's not how you spell "Program"

/gets out his Oxford English Dictionary...