Topic: Media

It seems that the predictions that the iPlayer would affect bandwidth and increase data usage may have been not far off the mark.

Data released by one ISP, PlusNet, shows that it's costs per user tripled in the first full month since the release of the iPlayer back on Christmas day. The streaming cost per user has risen from 6.1p a month to 18.3p in January, it this is a common value amongst ISPs then it's claimed that the iPlayer has increased the cost to the market as a whole in the region of £1m in it's first month.

Some ISPs have claimed that they will have to resort to traffic shaping, although some who already do have found that it's not the easy option.

The BBC claimed that the iPlayer is good for the broadband industry and has a "negligible impact on the UK internet infrastructure".

The BBC has now made the iPlayer download player compatible with Firefox after months of only an being available for Internet Explorer users.

While it's good news for Windows XP users those using a Mac or Linux as an operating system have been told that they could wait up to two years for it to be ported across to other platforms. In the meantime they will have to rely on the streaming version which is proving more popular than the download version, with over eight times more viewers using this version.

While the streaming version was hastily rolled out it seems that it will be the main way to view it's online files, with the P2P download version as a compliment or as the method for HD delivery which the BBC hopes to roll out.

The BBC has said that 3.5 million programmes have been watched but over a million viewers since its iPlayer was launched on Christmas Day.

Although the player has had a turbulent past it seems the decision to offer a streaming service has paid off as only just under 400,000 programmes were actually downloaded eight times less than streamed.
Users watched on average 25 minutes of programming with the usual shows most watched on TV also coming out top, Doctor Who, Eastenders and Extras being a few of the top shows.

The figures seem to echo a Tiscali TV Trends report which says that 64 per cent of viewers believe the schedules restrict their viewing too much. The reasons for downloading content are catching up on a missed programme (58 per cent), flexibility (49 per cent) and overcoming schedule clashes (39 per cent).

It also revealed that 62 per cent watched the content on their TV's rather than using a PC.

O2 is to jump on the IPTV bandwagon and trial an internet-based TV service next year after having success with a similar product in the Czech market.

Since it's launch in September 2006 the test bed has signed up 70,000 customers, which gives O2 and its owner, Telefonica, confidence to move into the UK market, even though UK IPTV providers are fining it tough going.
Virgin Media's quad-play offering has proved disappointing, while take-up of rival BT Vision, even with substantial TV advertising has been slow over the past year. Even established providers such as Homechoice, which Tiscali acquired last year, has seen customers drop to 36,000 from 45,000,  boss Mary Turner has still pledged it would have 200,000 customers by the end of 2008.

The BBC has finally got around to launching a streaming version of its iPlayer for Mac users.

Although the XP version of the iPlayer will officially launch on Christmas day the apple version will be a cut down affair. It will not let users download programmes for later viewing, unlike XP users who can view the content within 30 days.
The beeb hasn't said how it intends to allow this as the iPlayer is based on DRM, which is Microsoft's copy protection technology which is only available on Windows.

The beta service allows users to stream programmes broadcast over the last seven days to their browser, though unlike the Windows version, there is no facility for downloading programmes to watch at any time within 30 days.

Although it has been slow in coming, the beeb has been under pressure to make the iPlayer multiplatform

The BBC will launch it's iPlayer on Christmas Day, but will it be back in the box before the new year?

The beta trails haven't been a resounding success with ISP's ganging up on it's bandwidth usage and users complaining about technical problems. These include DRM licensing faults, broken links and lengthy waits for programmes, even the support message board has nearly 3,500 threads on "technical issues".

Another issue is that at the present only users of Windows XP are fully supported, so anyone getting a new PC with Vista, Macs or Linux on for Xmas will be unable to enjoy the iPlayer 'experience'.

A BBC spokesperson said that "it's all about the content available on the platform. The Christmas schedules are the richest time of year for TV programming." but could the iPlayer end up becoming a turkey?

If you want to see the latest on what is happening in the Jungle in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here you can find out on ITV's website.

Visitors can watch a live video stream between 23:30 and 09:00 GMT for free and see the latest spats between the contestants, or the coverage is repeated during the daytime here in the UK while the 'celebrities' are asleep.
Video highlights will also be available to be watched as Katie Hopkins, Gemma Atkinson, Cerys Matthews, Marc Bannerman and others try to get the UK public to remember who they are.

All of the action is on the ITV website, if this is your kind of thing.

The BBC has hit back at criticisms from the Mac and open-source communities over the iPlayer only being available for Microsoft's Windows XP platform.

In an interview with silicon.com, Ashley Highfield the head of BBC Future Media and Technology unit, said the criticism has been unfair and that he really loves Macs.

The streaming Flash based version of the iPlayer will be available by Christmas for Mac and Linux users, but it hasn't been forthcoming on when the full download version would be available for other platforms.

The BBC has been told that it must offer a version of its iPlayer which will work on all operating systems and not just be confined to Windows.

When the BBC initially asked the BBC Trust for approval to create the iPlayer, it was told that "catch-up television over the internet should become platform neutral within a reasonable time frame" but even offering a stripped down version Flash version which it announced yesterday did cut any ice with the trust.

Now the beeb has to step up plans for it's Mac and Linux versions of the iPlayer, but one of the problems could be it's use of DRM which it uses on the Windows version to only allow users to store content for 30 days. DRM isn't licensed on the Mac OS as yet and isn't available for versions of Linux so it will be interesting to see what is planned, although don't hope for a non-DRM Windows version just yet.

The BBC wants to add HD to it's iPlayer broadband TV service, which won't go down very well with some ISP's.

Many ISP's including Tiscali and TalkTalk had previously expressed concern that the service would affect the amount of bandwidth that users consume, and called on a tax to offset their costs. Having a HD service is likely to increase their worries, but looking at the wider picture should calm their fears.

Many broadband connections in the UK would struggle to provide a decent non-HD service, and as discussions have only stated on the UK's fibre plans it would be a few years in the future before then need to start worrying.