Unless you are a lover of comedy then what follows may not seem significant, but it is. From tomorrow (19 July 2005) the BBC provides pre-broadcast access, via broadband, to its second series of the comedy The Mighty Boosh. Put this move together with its podcast pilot and its Creative Archive initiative (whenever the latter produces concrete outputs) and we are maybeperhapspossibly at the start of a paradigm shift. Those of you who have read my previous postings on podcasting will know I'm a big fan of the download model because this enables me to decide when it's convenient for me (not a broadcaster) to 'process' what's on offer. So audio is pretty much taken care of, but video is a different matter.
Video as ubiquitous downloads? Nope … the broadcasters will try and lock everyone to a streaming model. Viewers may have some choice about when they start a programme but they will still be pretty much tied to the old assumption that they only require a linear viewing experience in which they will be static and so watch a programme from beginning to end at one sitting.
And of course there's that other problem with the BBC forcing use of the proprietary RealPlayer instead of making their streams available via an open source alternative.
There is an alternative possible future where, as a BBC licence player, I can just set up the equivalent of my podcasting application which then automatically downloads the programmes which interest me, in a format suitable for whatever device I wish to view the programme on.
But that's probably too easy.
Instead, even innovative broadcaster like the BBC will continue inconveniencing their viewers who have been demonstrating for years, via VCR and now DVR/PVRs, that they want to take control and consume when they want to consume not when the broadcaster wants them to. So with the exception of a few programme formats, e.g. news, the days of live television are numbered and the only question is how convenient/inconvenient can the distribution processes and supporting technologies be?
Of course, so-called broadband is still anything but for the majority of consumers. Downloading a programme such as The Mighty Boosh in anything approaching high quality would overwhelm the capabilities of the average domestic broadband connection. And I cannot see all but the most geekish being willing to leave their computer downloading a one hour television programme in average quality overnight when it's, say, 1.5GB in size and their broadband line is capped to, say, 15GB per month. For distribution of even semi-broadcast quality video via broadband to work we need high domestic broadband bandwidth of, say, a minimum of 10Mbps and probably more, and no caps … and certainly no use of Skype at the same time. In the absence of this broadband infrastructure (at an attractive cost to consumers), then recording off air/satellite/cable will just be plain more efficient pro-tem.
Also, as I've pointed out in my previous post BBC iMP has rights but at what cost? broadcasters like the BBC seem to be in the process of building in compulsory rights management into their video for broadband so that any download will only be viewable for a seven day period. As I suggested in my earlier post, how would you feel if your current video recorder behaved in exactly the same way? So with conditions like this applied would a video download actually be less attractive than the transmission alternative? … Or are they working on this as well? Digital video over the airways may be MPEG but unlike the MPEG on your DVD (a Programme Stream) it is a Transmission Stream (TS) which carries extra information. Unless the consumer revolts we may end up looking back on the days of the video recorder with nostalgia because if some have their way they want you to view media downloads like metered electricity or water … sometimes there will be special 'time-limited' offers or free downloads, but that's just to get you habituated. Don't stop me, I'm on a conspiracy roll here … 🙂 … Let's hope I'm wrong,
In the interim, we're going to get poorer quality trial streams which will be far from television quality; but, as VHS has shown for years, technical quality isn't everything. Also, I suppose everyone will have to continue supporting the broadcaster's illusion that they can still have our eyeballs at a time they dictate … now where's that record button?
But what if you want to watch that video in alternative devices, say a PDA or other mobile device? It's here that the BBC could score by offering, say, MPEG4 (xVid, DivX, Nero) small format versions of programmes in 320×240 resolution. Anyone who has done this will know that quite acceptable results can be achieved, but it just takes sooooooo….. long to do that it has got to be a labour of love and is certainly in uber geek territory.
But no, if the Mighty Boosh trailer is anything to go by we're going to be lumbered with the proprietary RealMedia format. So, unlike the MP3 based podcast trial, I don't give much for this one's chances of success.
But I suppose the BBC has got to feel their way and navigate the rights minefield. What I can't understand is why an organisation with the purchasing power of the Beeb didn't (doesn't) make rights transfer the norm for production companies taking money from the public purse. That would do much to remove this reuse inertia and would stimulate a level of creativity and progress that is already being demonstrated by BBC Backstage, but as yet only being hinted at by the Creative Archive.
The BBC of course is not alone in such developments. The UK's Channel 4 Broadband has already been dipping a toe into this water. However, the highly uninspiring 'reality TV' shows such as Big Brother, Wife Swap, and Faking it have hardly been flagships for the cause, and, like the BBC, the proprietary RealMedia system is much in evidence (undoubtedly because of its rights management engine). Channel 4, however, is apparently now considering streaming all its digital transmissions over broadband at the same time as its broadcasts.
The Mighty Boosh will be available from tomorrow and seven days thereafter.
