OUseful Info

BBC Web 2.0 - Watch Again Online, Plus a Personalised Homepage

There were a couple of significant changes to the BBC website this week, (which also saw the end of the BBC archive trial).

First up, the BBC iPlayer moved online. In its original release, the iPlayer offered a downloadable client and library application (Windows only, for DRM reasons), which could be used to download BBC programmes within 7 days of broadcast, and then allow users to start to watch the content within 30 days of download (having started to watch, the content would be deleted after seven days). As of last week, you can now watch content online, on any platform (except the Wii:-(, via a browser. If you have the latest Flash player installed, this includes on full screen view.

One thing that's nice about the new iPlayer service is that programmes are bookmarkable via a URL. So for example, here is a link to the first episode of Fanny Hill, which you may or may not consider to be work safe. FOr adult content such as this, there is a checkbox screen requiring you to state you are over 16, with additional Guidance/lock controls available. For something a little less risque, here's Kenneth Brannagh on the Culture Show. Once the seven day watch again period has expired, I'm not sure what happens. Maybe pay to play, in the long run?

A couple of other things to notice - the service is out "in beta", and it also offers a range of 'traditional' sharing options, with links to social bookmarking and recommendation sites, as well as a self-contained recommend/email to a friend option. I have one quibble with the "Link to This" URL, though - there's no easy/automagical way of highlighting it and copying it to the clipboard.

A second major beta release was of the new BBC Customisable homepage. Inspired by the like of Netvibes and Google Personal Pages, the new BBC homepage lets you customise the BBC homepage to a limited extent, such as deciding what news feeds you'd like to appear (and where - there is a certain amount of drag and droppable goodness), local weather, BBC TV listings and so on.

The third announcement that caught my eye - made possible by the iPlayer online release - was the inclusion of watch/listen again services in the BBC Programmes website.

Here's how it looks...

...and then click though...

Audio player/Listen again links are also provide for Radio programmes, although links to archived radio programmes (that go back years in some cases) don't seem to have appeared on the Programmes site yet...

It's probably worth making a quick comment here about BBC URL goodness. For example:

• BBC iPlayer page for Spooks series 6 episode 9: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b008flpc.shtm
• BBC Programmes page for Spooks series 6 episode 9: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008flpc

Notice anything similar? (Boo!;-)

Making content like available in this way is a Good Thing, I think, though the requirement for a recent Flash Player means the iPlayer won't work (at least in full screen mode) on the Wii... :-( Not having such toys, I wonder how the iPod touch will cope? Given that access to BBC content can be had for free via The Cloud wifi network (stations, airports, pubs and hotels across the UK and abroad...), I can maybe start to see possible uptake of anytime, anywhere TV ;-)

And finally, what of the dear old BBC/OU relationship? The OU enters into co-production deals with the BBC on quite a few high profile broadcast series (Can Gerry Robinson Fix the NHS?, for example), so will we be seeing the iPlayer embedded - with watch again content - on appropriate pages on the Open2.net website (which is produced by the commercial BBC Worldwide Interactive Learning unit for the OU).

If YouTube is anything to go by, maybe not... The BBC have put up content from several OU/BBC co-pro series onto YouTube (such as clips from James May's 20th Century), but these are unembeddable and - as far as I know - haven't appeared on the corresponding open2.net page.

In an age where the big dot com announcements appear in association with third party partners (Google launching Open Social with several partners, for example), I continue to be amazed that the OU/BBC partnership doesn't appear to extend as far as increasing the surface of content on the web via sites that are built around particular series by production partners... ho hum....

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Tags: bbc, open2.net, iplayer

Posted by ajh59 at December 16, 2007 05:57 PM