May 17, 2005
The BBC plans to test on-demand programmig using high-speed internet access, and an interactive Media Player or iMP.
The Guardian says the Beeb will launch a public trial of iMP, which allows viewers to download any show from the previous week that they may have missed.
Telecom giants such as BT and France Telecom will also launch new initiatives to link the internet to the TV through a set-top box later this year. A company called HomeChoice already offers a similar service in the London area. HomeChoice programming is available via 1Mb, 2Mb or 4Mb broadband connections with up to 80 digital TV and radio channels
The BBC already has an interactive channel (BBCi), so online viewers should be ahead of the game in the UK. Executives reason that whether they view content on their computer screen, web-connected TV or a portable device, they'll want to access BBC shows "any time, any place, anywhere".
The $99 Freeview settop box provides a dozen digital television channels and over 20 digital radio channels -- absolutely free -- in the UK. It's paid for with advertising. As competition has increased, from multichannel TV and now the web, the BBC wants to widen the distribution of its content in order to make a convincing argument for the licence fee.
The pilot scheme, initially limited to 5,000 people and running from September to December, with the technology ahead of a full launch next year. Viewers will be able to search through more than 190 hours of TV shows, 310 radio programmes, regional programming and some feature films. After seven days, the content will be automatically deleted from their computer.
Unlike personal video recorders, viewers don't have to chose programs in advance. They download it.
The BBC - which is developing iMP alongside another major project known as the Creative Archive, aims to offer a huge library of classic shows for download - will try to keep costs down by using "peer-to-peer" technology to distribute the programmes.
Search engines such as Google Video Search and Yahoo! Video Search are also investing millions in developing "video search" tools. Settop boxes like Moxi allow viewers to download and play content. But so far the viewing fare is limited and not coordinated with off the air broadcasting.
The Amino AmiNET500 set-top box with PVR includes SkyStream's software to manage and schedule live and on-demand media. U.K.-based Amino equips its set-top box with an 80 GB hard drive and PVR capability.
U.S. consumers are stuck with the ATSC digital television standard which (mostly) can't deliver a signal to rabbit ears. The remaining 15% of the audience still watching off the air probably couldn't afford a DTV anyway. The Software Data Download Service, A/97, defines specifications for downloading software to terminal devices using an MPEG2 transport stream.
ATSC is attempting to "fix" it with E-VSB. Developed jointly by LG Electronics (Zenith) and ATI Technologies, the Enhanced VSB (E-VSB) "standard" will provide digital TV broadcasters in the United States, South Korea and other ATSC countries with improved over-the-air DTV reception.
The COFDM-based Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial (DVB-T) used by Freeview in the UK, works indoors. The primary advantage with E-VSB may be that it keeps royalties in-house. E-VSB utilizes Vestigal Sideband modulation, slowing the data rate down for "rugged" reception. For ATSC, a workable DTV system in the United States may be less important than the royalty payoff.
Cellular providers are moving into the mobile television vacuum. Crown Castle bought 1.4 GHz spectrum across the United States and have deployed DVB-H technology in a three-site, single-frequency network trial in Pittsburgh. DVB-H is for handhelds. Qualcomm's new MediaFLO network is capable of carrying up to 100 channels, with as many as 15 of them streaming live video. As a shared resource for U.S. CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UMTS) operators, the network will carry content in the nationwide 700 MHz spectrum (UHF TV channel 55) owned by the CDMA pioneer.
CES head Gary Shapiro thinks E-VSB is a totally bad idea.
"The recent activities to develop enhanced-VSB standard have been a disappointment and a misguided endeavor," he said. "Furthermore, we strongly believe that standards should be created and decided upon by consensus, which did not occur in the development of E-VSB."
Still, what the BBC is doing with this test isn't exotic broadcast datacasting or mobile television. They are simply putting programming on-line. Even ATSC broadcasters in the United States could do that!
BBC's Mobile Video, Interactive TV News, ABC News Now Looks to Future, The Free Triple Play, IP-TV Settops, Mobile TV Expands, Verizon Does Cellular TV, Video Search, Big Media Mobilizes, U.S. Gets MobileTV via DVB-H, Samsung's Video over DSL and The Man Who Invented Television.
