BBC to trial HDTV mid 2006
Wednesday, November 09, 2005, 0 comments
The BBC will begin trial broadcasts of high-definition television (HDTV) next year, director of TV Jana Bennett has confirmed.
Highlights of its schedule will be made available in high-definition format to selected digital satellite and cable viewers from mid-2006.
The BBC also aims to test the format on digital terrestrial TV in London.
Current series Bleak House and Rome have been made in HDTV, which requires a compatible TV and receiver.
[...]
BBC director general Mark Thompson has pledged to deliver free-to-air HDTV on all BBC digital platforms "as soon as practical", which is expected to be by about 2010. [...] Sky also plans to launch its own HDTV service in 2006, which will include live Premiership football.
The HDTV system is already available in Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea and the US, and compatible HDTV sets are already on sale in the UK.
"Our promise to our licence payers is to give them the highest quality television, so the time is right for the BBC to get involved in high definition."
This is the move I have been waiting for. It is about time britain moved into the realm of superior quality digital televsion.
ITV trials broadband TV service
Tuesday, October 18, 2005, 0 comments
One of the UK's leading terrestrial broadcasters is to throw its hat into the broadband TV ring. ITV will trial a TV service via the internet, which will offer people the chance to create their own schedules and broadcasts. Local content, including classified advertisements, will be key to the new service. Using high-speed net connections to deliver TV content is capturing the imagination of broadcasters and telcos. The three-month trial will initially be aimed at viewers in Brighton and Hastings, although ITV plans to extend to other regions if it is deemed a success. Viewers will be invited to upload their own reports and budding film-makers will be able to showcase their films as part of a drive towards citizen-led TV.
Google Video to stream aired BBC shows
Friday, September 30, 2005, 0 comments
Google recently acquired the rights to air the pilot of a new UPN television series entitled "Everybody Hates Chris" (starring Chris Rock) via its Google Video service. It seems this was the first step towards much bigger things. According to the Unofficial Google Weblog, the BBC and UPN are in talks with Google " to provide streaming access to already-aired TV shows". This shows that the BBC are continuing to innovate along the Internet-television direction whilst keeping their content free of any additional service charge.
Broadband to reshape the way we watch TV
Wednesday, September 14, 2005, 0 comments
The BBC is carrying an article that discusses the impact of IPTV (internet protocol television), outlining a score of new features, options and benefits that viewers can take advantage of. It speaks of the now possible IPTV option within the UK due to the recently announced broadband speed increases by NTL and Blueyonder to 10mbit and suggests "increased user control" within the next 5 years as analogue television is phased out.
Within a decade, says the report from Lovelace Consulting and informitv, TV delivered to sets over the net will be an established way to receive content. TV will be much more web-like, with millions of shows to download.
TVs will be hooked up to set-top boxes which are in turn hooked up to the broadband pipe too. The broadcast and on-demand programmes it will be able to receive will be in standard as well as high-definition formats.
It is an interesting read for those perplexed with the future of television: BBC Article
BBC opens TV archive to remixers
Thursday, September 08, 2005, 0 comments
Source: BBC opens TV archive to remixers
The BBC has released the first TV clips from its archive onto the internet for people to "rip, mix and share". Almost 100 clips, from shows such as Walking With Beasts and Tomorrow's World, are for the UK public to use for free in their own creative works. The BBC hopes to foster innovation by letting anyone re-use its material for personal and educational purposes under the Creative Archive Licence. BBC Radio 1 launched the scheme with a competition to produce a music video. The clips, mostly a few minutes long, range from animals to landscapes and art. The licence says they must not be used in commercial or campaigning ways and must not be used to defame other people. 'Tuned in' The scheme has been in the pipeline since former BBC director general Greg Dyke in 2003. The British Film Institute, Channel 4, Open University and Teachers' TV are also set to make more material available. Paul Gerhardt, director of the Creative Archive Licence Group, said the scheme was aimed at "a young, media aware audience". They were "naturally tuned into the idea of content being available when they want it, and who will welcome the right to shape it to meet their needs", he said. Radio 1 and 1Xtra listeners are being invited to edit the clips and set them to three minutes of music. Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt said: "My experience of the creativity of our audience leaves me in no doubt that together we'll make some great material."
BBC and ITV to start Sky TV rival
Thursday, September 08, 2005, 0 comments
The BBC and ITV are to launch a free-to-view satellite TV service to cater for viewers unable to receive Freeview digital coverage. ITV announced plans for the service, to be called Freesat, on Wednesday. Freesat, to be launched early in 2006, will rival BSkyB and will carry all BBC and ITV digital TV, interactive and radio services plus other channels. BBC director general Mark Thompson said the announcement "paved the way" for nationwide free digital television. Mr Thompson said he welcomed ITV as partners in the project "to develop a consumer friendly, subscription-free satellite proposition". "The huge success of Freeview, already in more than five million homes, demonstrates how highly free digital television is valued by many people," he said Digital take-up "Our long-stated aim has been to bring about an open market in subscription-free satellite services so we can ensure free access to all the BBC's services across the country in the run-up to switchover and beyond." The government plans to switch off analogue TV signals, region-by-region, by 2012. Sky launched its own free satellite service - called "freesat from Sky" - last October, which allows access to 140 non-subscription channels for a one-off fee. ITV's chief executive Charles Allen said the company would also start broadcasting its channels "in the clear" in the next few months, meaning the channels can be watched through any satellite receiver. ITV currently encrypts - or scrambles - its transmissions via satellite, using the service provided by Sky. He said: "We want our channels to be available to as many people as possible, regardless of technological and geographical constraints. "As we move from analogue to a digital environment, Freesat - and Freeview - will enable every family in the UK to enjoy a wide range of quality channels for free." A recent Ofcom report said more than 60% of UK households now receive digital TV. Approximately a quarter of TV viewers live outside the Freeview coverage area. ITV has also launched a new service to allow mobile phone users to watch highlights or footage of favourite programmes such as This Morning, Coronation Street, and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! The service, available on mobile phones with internet access, will also include showbiz news and gossip, competitions, games, ringtones and a TV reminder service. ITV is also to trial a local TV service on broadband in the Brighton and Hastings area, containing local news and weather, community activities, travel and property advertising.
Breaking News, "smoking bus"
Tuesday, August 02, 2005, 0 comments
The BBC is reporting that a bus is "smoking" in london: BBC NEWS
(14:32 GMT) Police are investigating a security alert on a bus in central London, near King's Cross. There are reports of a smoking bus on Gray's Inn Road, which has been closed in both directions as has Euston Road. Police and fire services are attending, and a bomb disposal unit is due but it is unclear if there was a suspect package on board. A cordon has been put in place as a precaution, but at present there are no reports of an explosion, police said. Some passengers were reported to have suffered from smoke inhalation and London Ambulance has sent two ambulances to the scene.
Welcome to "Inside BBC"
Tuesday, August 02, 2005, 0 comments
Hello and welcome to this newly opened blog site. The aim of this site is to document and inform you of the latest innovations, changes, articles and improvements made at the british broadcasting corporation's (BBC) website and elsewhere.
This site is in no way affiliated with the BBC.
TV listings opened for development
Saturday, July 23, 2005, 0 comments
BBC news is reporting that "backstage.bbc" have opened up their TV and radio schedules to the public and are now inviting users to develop innovative uses of the listings.
"The competition, announced at the Open Tech conference in London, has been organised by the BBC's backstage.bbc.co.uk developer network. Backstage lets people remix the BBC's content to make new applications. The latest content release is seven-day listings information for TV and radio, in a format called TV Anytime."
Open Source Launch
Thursday, July 14, 2005, 0 comments
On July 12th the BBC opened up their Open Source development website.
This site provides information about and links to BBC open source projects. It lists projects developed by the BBC where the source code has been released as open source. The site doesn't cover the many open source projects to which the BBC has contributed, but only those that the BBC has initiated and managed itself. For the BBC, open source software development is an extension of our Public Service remit. Releasing open source software helps our audience get additional value from the work they've funded, and also get tools for free that they couldn't get any other way. It also allows people outside the BBC to extend projects in such a way that may in future be used in the BBC.
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