Einar Thorsen

Professor of Journalism and Communication at Bournemouth University

Publications | Conferences | Teaching | Projects

PGP Public Key
Finger print: 5568 022B F641 362E D18B BCCC 1FC5 CA72 FA67 FDF9

Audio Interview: BBC’s Huggers And Rose On iPlayer, Canvas And More | paidContent:UK

by Leave a Comment

Robert Andrews interviews Huggers and Rose about iPlayer launch:

The highlights…

—Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) for iPlayer IM: “Windows Live Messenger is one of the most popular right now,” said ex Microsoft exec Huggers. “Let’s try it first with the biggest out there.”

—HTML5 vs Flash: BBC has a strategic relationship with Flash maker Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE), but: “I can guarantee you that, in the labs, there’s plenty of activity with HTML5.”

—Canvas still relevant:“Everyone is building (connected TV) as a closed, proprietary environment.” “It’s very different from Google (NSDQ: GOOG) TV, which will just search the web.” “We need to build the damn thing.”

External link

Introducing the all new BBC iPlayer (This time it’s personal)

by Leave a Comment

Anthony Rose:

Now, today iPlayer does a fine job of satisfying the time-shifted desires created by the scheduler: the BBC schedulers create the desire to watch a programme; iPlayer lets you see it at a time that's convenient to you.

But what if you no longer watched linear TV? Who becomes the tastemaker then? Right now this is a largely theoretical problem as very few people watch no live TV at all. However, for a small but growing number of people this is indeed the case, and the fundamental problem that I sought to address was "who becomes the tastemaker for such people in a world without schedules?"

External link

The evolution of BBC iPlayer

by Leave a Comment

Erik Huggers:

The BBC wasn’t the first mainstream media company to offer a video-on-demand service, but I do think we were the first to get it right. Some important early decisions contributed greatly to its appeal with audiences.

He then goes on to describe simplicity of access (i.e. streaming), quality of content, clarity of message, and platform neutrality as those important decisions.

Bringing the benefits of emerging technologies to the public is in the BBC’s DNA as its sixth public purpose, and the idea behind BBC iPlayer was to give audiences greater control over the programmes they enjoy, guarantee subscription-free access to BBC content in an on-demand world, and provide better value for the content they have already paid for.

Too often people forget that technological innovation is part of the BBC’s public service remit…

External link