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BBC Adds Shows to iTunes

re. the license fee / why isn't this free thing...

I think when we're talking about 'owning' content it's fair enough to charge for it, license fee or not.... That said, if we don't see the iplayer via itunes anytime soon I really could begin to moan. I mean, the BBC are clearly cultivating a relationship with apple; and, the rental mechanism is there (with time expiry drm restritions) making it easy to control in exactly the same way as iplayer for the PC. It seems to be the only/best way to offer the same functionality to mac users.

Therefore, IF we don't see iplayer via itunes (or even via the bbc website), I would see it as a 'commercial' or strategic decision NOT to do so, perhaps to drive the download sales we've seen launched today. That would be a big shame and as a UK TV license payer and mac owner I'd be pretty annoyed....

Arguably, making such decisions to stifle functionality in one area to drive revenue in another has become a neat trick for apple - where did wireless HDD time machine functionality dissapear to?!... (hopefully i'm soon proved wrong on this one!) - but anyway, I'd be pretty sad to see the BBC learning such tricks!

But as mentioned, the 8 days thing makes me hope it's coming!
 
aperantos said:
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.
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In France they want to taxe the ads on the net and give the money to the public channels (6 in total) in return they have to stop any type of advertising and commercial on TV !!1 how heaven is that !

We will be finelly able to watch LOST without 3 commercials in the middle !!!
 
BklynKid said:
You obviously didn't get the sarcastic nature of my comment. :rolleyes:
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Actually, I did ( get the nature of your comment ):rolleyes:

I added the programme vs program bit for non-standard-English speaking people... ( i.e., any version of English that isn't British English ). I thought it may be interesting for others to see how the different spellings are used.
 
cecemf said:
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 !!!!
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The content on iPlayer is not the same as the content available to purchase BBC iTunes Store.

And let's repeat for those who are just not getting it:

iPlayer works with Mac's

Has anyone who thinks iPlayer doesn't work with Mac's even been on the iPlayer website? :rolleyes:
 
All of the itunes content should be available internationally.

CBC stuff in the british store, BBC stuff in the American store, ABC/NBC stuff in the canadian store etc. This whole business of trying to keep international borders in place on the web is rediculous. thats why i have multiple itunes accounts in different countries.
 
gkarris said:
My Webster's says it's "program".... :eek:
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Webster was an American...

(He was also personally responsible for introducing most of the differences between British and American spelling, which appeared in his first dictionary.)
 
Rocketman said:
1.89 pounds is about 3.78 dollars. Can we buy them in the USA for the currency adjusted price? Can people in the ROW buy them for the currency adjusted price?

Fair question.

Rocketman
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I'm not saying the price difference isn't wrong but Dr Who Season 3 DVD is currently £48.99 on Amazon. It has 13 episodes which equals £3.77 per episode. When it gets released it'll probably be £21.99 (like Robin Hood Season 2) which equals £1.69 per episode
 
appleTV and BBC HD - a great possibility!

the more you think out about it, what a great idea!

the BBC could offer a 7 day rental for all their HD programming on a :apple:TV iplayer app.... as we know, at present to watch BBC HD you need to have SKY. What a coup it would be for apple to essentially offer a free HD channel to UK users (with the ability to purchase after days), that should shift a few :apple:TV units!
 
I cannot see that many people going for this when you have BBC iPlayer for free and also there is BBC3 for those who have missed some of their favourite soaps etc.
I think £1.89 is too steep i think 99p would have been a better price.
 
Huzzah! Regardless of your feelings about being asked to pay for something that you already paid for (personally this does not apply as I have a UK iTunes account, live in Belgium and therefore can't access the iPlayer service) this represents something very important for the UK iTunes Store - local content. As thrilled as I was that Apple started selling TV Shows outside the US I was pretty annoyed that all it amounted to were the same US shows that the US iTunes Store launched with. This is good news as far as I am concerned - here's hoping that the selection is gradually expanded.
 
They're crazing to think Brits will pay again for what they 1) Already pay for in their licence fee 2) Can get for free with iPlayer.

They should cost a few pence to UK peeps for bandwidth, and full price to non-UK to raise funds.
 
I live in the UK, pay my license fee and think this is a brilliant move by the BBC. I've previously bought DVDs of Life on Mars, Blackadder, Doctor Who, etc , etc because I like watching the programmes multiple times when I feel like it. Previously, I've ripped them to iTunes and am perfectly happy to buy them direct from iTunes simply for the convenience it gives me.
As with everything in life, if you don't like it, don't buy it :)
As an aside, these programmes are made available by BBC Worldwide which is the commercial arm of the BBC and not funded by license fee money (OK, the original programmes may have been but I believe BBC Worldwide pay a fee to the BBC to get these programmes)
 
edesignuk said:
They're crazing to think Brits will pay again for what they 1) Already pay for in their licence fee 2) Can get for free with iPlayer.

They should cost a few pence to UK peeps for bandwidth, and full price to non-UK to raise funds.
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1) The license fee only pays for live TV. Selling programmes on iTunes may result in raising additional revenues for the BBC. However this is also true for the american networks. The TV programmes they put on iTunes have already been paid for by advertising revenues, but they still charge for downloads. The BBC does not charge costs only for dvds (see my post about the Dr Who dvd). It sells them at a commercial rate so why are you expecting it to charge for bandwith only for downloads?

2)If you can find any programme on the iPlayer that is also on iTunes i'll eat my 20" iMac. The iPlayer is catch up TV for things you've missed, but only from the last 7 days and you can't keep it or (as far as i'm aware transfer it to any other device). Great for soaps or stuff you'll only watch once. BBC on iTunes only has programmes that are at least 8 days old, is for keeps for ever and should be transferable to your ipod/iphone/atv. Bring on Blackadder!!!
 
tibi08 said:
Why would anyone pay for Top Gear or Red Dwarf when we have Dave?
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id pay because on dave they cut bits out to fit in the 3 or 4 ad breaks! although top gear with adverts in beats no top gear at all! saying that my sky+ box is full of top gear!

but why is spooks series 6 available on iTunes when it aint getting released on dvd for nearly 8 months:mad:

it's a good start but i hope they start adding alot more of the bbc shows, especially the david attenborough stuff and planet earth (as well as top gear) because that's awesome and i'd buy it straight away!
 
Shouldn't have been free (After all, the DVDs are not) but a little cheaper woul have been nice.

However, I'm just happy the content is there. And, FWIW, I'd pay for things like Top Gear. Well, thats pretty much it... But yeah...
 
tibi08 said:
Why would anyone pay for Top Gear or Red Dwarf when we have Dave?
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Dave is the mothership of awesome, QI, Top Gear, Who's Line is it Anyway etc best channel ever :D

I'd love to see a Dave iPlayer, although it's run by the BBC so I'm sure they could incorporate this into the BBC iPlayer.
 
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