Bbc Iplayer Linux and Mac Ignored

[rvalkass 5]

The BBC are developing a piece of software called iPlayer, that will allow people who hold a TV Licence to watch brodcasts up to 7 days after their original transmission by downloading them through the BBC's software. This is a great idea, and shows the BBC are competing with the likes of Channel 4's On Demand service. It'll be free, and they've worked hard with the owners of the programmes to make sure they can bring as much as possible to the service. However, there is a major problem: iPlayer will require Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. The BBC's remit states the following:

[The BBC must...]provide services for everyone, free of commercial interests and political bias

If a particular part of their service requires the purchase of hundreds of pounds worth of software to use, this does not seem particularly free of commercial interests.
The BBC cite 2 main reasons: DRM and a low user proportion.

I can understand why they need to use DRM (to satisfy the copyright holders), but the BBC have always been innovators of new technology, and surely they could work to develop a useable system for Linux, the Mac and other OSs? A low user base of around 5% of computer users is not a real excuse either. This proprtion is always growing, and the BBC provide other services used by a lower proportion of people than this.

What are your opinions on this? Should the BBC be forced to allow Linux and Mac users like myself to use the service too, or should it just be open to Windows users?

[iGuest 3]

Maybe 5% doesnBbc Iplayer... But it depends to what it is applied. Given that BBC programs have tens of millions of viewers, 5% probably amounts to several millions of viewers which are discriminated.-reply by Anonymous coward

[Kirkland 0]

The DRM the bbc used is based on windows media player and thus would most likely not work on Linux. It is the easiest and most well known type of DRM systems and for the bbc to use one which would support all os it would require quite a lot of work and for the majority of windows visitors it may require installing a new codec. Besides the bbc have also made available the programs in their online flash player which every os can play. Its better than ITV's iplayer which uses silverlight which I believe does not run on linux and channel 4's which is exclusively windows os.

[rvalkass 5]

The DRM the bbc used is based on windows media player and thus would most likely not work on Linux.

When the IPlayer was first made available for Apple's iPhone, it was found that the DRM was disabled if you downloaded from an iPhone (as presumably they wouldn't be able to decode it). This prompted a question - the BBC's main reason for not using an open DRM format, or removing the DRM altogether, was that the owners of the content were adamant that this particular DRM had to be used - so why were they able to disable it for the iPhone? And if they could do that, why not disable it for everything except Windows?

It is the easiest and most well known type of DRM systems and for the bbc to use one which would support all os it would require quite a lot of work and for the majority of windows visitors it may require installing a new codec.

The provide programs in Welsh. A smaller proportion of the UK population speak fluent Welsh than use Macs and Linux. To understand these programs most people have to learn a whole new language. Yet they do it. Writing an open DRM platform doesn't seem so hard, appeals to more people and installing a codec is far easier than learning a language.

Besides the bbc have also made available the programs in their online flash player which every os can play. Its better than ITV's iplayer which uses silverlight which I believe does not run on linux and channel 4's which is exclusively windows os.

Now they have made a Flash version available, although it wasn't for quite a while after launch. It also still limits Mac and Linux users to streaming their material rather than downloading it and playing it locally. I agree that ITV and Channel 4 haven't done any better, but the BBC spends millions on research and development, and yet they didn't think it worth their time to do this properly.