BBC iPlayer a Microsoft DRM Waste?
July 13, 2007 by Mike Abundo
Filed under Computers, Television
I’m a huge fan of the BBC’s progressive online video practices, but their online video technology may leave much to be desired. Cyndy Aleo-Carreira tears into the Microsoft (ick) DRM (double ick) in their upcoming proprietary iPlayer.
The upcoming iPlayer, recently announced its July 27th launch, despite being in development since 2003. It will allow users to watch BBC television broadcasts seven days after they are aired.
The idea of the BBC iPlayer sounded great, but the restrictiveness of the iPlayer made a DVR sound like a better option.
The problem? The iPlayer relies on Microsoft’s DRM technology, which means if you aren’t running a Microsoft operating system, you are out of luck. No Linux or Mac versions exist, although the BBC estimates a Mac version may be available by this fall.
The European Commission, however, is already threatening to sue based on a non-compete argument, and the Open Source Consortium is also making a fair amount of noise.
It’s stating that the Beeb should be held to a higher standard of accountability when it comes to making their content available to everyone because of their status as a government-funded media outlet.
C’mon, Beeb. You’re more clueful than this. There’s still time to toss out that Microsoft DRM before launch.
I think the iPlayer will fall flat on its face — even if it was cross platform it is still really restrictive — only 15% of shows will be available and it would be easier to use a DVR than spend time installing the software which will be awkward to use.
Given that its taken them a few years to get this far I dont think they’ll be able to rebuild a cross platform app in a few weeks b4 the launch.
I don’t think the BBC wanted all this DRM anyway - it was the content owners which forced it upon them.