UPDATE: BBC plans TV download service to rival iTunes
Update 15.03.12
The Director-General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has confirmed that its plans to develop a video download service – known as Project Barcelona – will be put to the BBC Trust later this year.
Purchases of TV shows and films should be around the £1.89, although that's not yet confirmed.
Thompson says that Project Barcelona is not an extra sly licence fee, but rather more like going into a shop to buy a DVD. Viewers will be able to permanently download copies of their favourite TV shows from the BBC archives.
Published 10.03.12
The BBC plans to sell up to 93% of its TV programmes as downloads in a digital store that would rival existing services such as Blinkbox, iTunes and Netflix.
Nicknamed Project Barcelona, the BBC is working with independent producers of TV shows to agree rights deals to sell the content.
At the moment, shows are available for free for 30 days on the hugely popular BBC iPlayer service, which hit a record-breaking 1.94 billion programme requests last year.
The rights are then sold by BBC Worldwide or the producers themselves to services such as iTunes to sell as downloads.
But, as PaidContent reports, the BBC is upset that only 7% of content is sold this way and is now looking at a deal to sell the remaining programmes.
The website reports that the BBC would look to sell downloads rather than offer a rental option, and that individual TV episodes would cost around £1.89.
The BBC would also promise to offer TV show producers a greater share of revenues than existing video download and rental services.
iTunes currently gives around 28p per episode to the producers, whereas the BBC would look to pay producers around 40p per episode.
BBC TV shows such as Sherlock and Spooks are available on iTunes to buy, in SD and HD, with prices starting from £1.89.
After announcing that the TV licence fee would be frozen until 2017, the government urged the BBC to do more to make money.
Project Barcelona, which remains in its infancy, could be part of new, paid-for BBC services to raise extra funds.
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Comments
Probably means you will get less choice on iplayer as the best stuff will be paid for content only
Hang on...
Haven't we, as a nation, paid for these programmes with the Licence fee?
Can they be allowed to charge us again? If they make this a 'paid for' service, then this must be the end of the licence fee!
Think that's unlikely at this stage jolls.
Hope this means the end of the licence fee.
iPlayer quality is pretty poor compared to SD let alone HD broadcast. This can only work if the paid for servuice is at least as good as off air SD quality, so it is possible to have a tiered quality / pricing structure that makes sense to the consumer.
Do they mean their entire archive?
Everything you can search thru Motion Gallery?? Now THAT would be interesting...
Big Aura - pretty sure this wouldn't affect iPlayer. It's about what happens with the content after the 30-day stint on iPlayer.
does this mean content will be available to download for a fee after it's had its 30-day free iPlayer run? Or is it the death of the best innovation in free telly since, well, free telly?!
well i hope the quality of these downloads is at a minimum of dvd.... might be tempted with mini series , something like "Hidden" with phil Glenster , as that would be cheaper than a dvd .. but if teh quality sucks i wont bother