facebook rss twitter

BBC plans to charge for watching archived iPlayer content

by Steven Williamson on 13 January 2012, 16:24

Tags: BBC

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qabbef

Add to My Vault: x

The BBC is brainstorming plans to charge viewers of its iPlayer service for accessing archived content.

The BBC iPlayer, which allows licence fee payers to watch programmes for free up to seven days after they’ve aired on TV, is considering charging those who want to access content prior to that period.

"We never stop future-gazing at the BBC and there are always a number of new ideas under discussion," a spokesman told The Telegraph.


BBC discusses plans to charge viewers for accessing archived content beyond seven days currently allowed

With the current licence fee costing £145.50 a year, the BBC reassured licence payers that they would still be able to access iPlayer content as they do now and confirmed that it has no plans to introduce a second licence.

"Any such ideas would need to be developed in conjunction with the industry and with rights-holders and they would certainly not lead to a two-tier licence fee," said the spokesperson.

If plans do go ahead, it seems likely the BBC would introduce a pay-per-view scheme for accessing archived content. The new scheme may not be in place until 2016 when the BBC’s Royal Charter is set to be renewed, reports The Telegraph.


HEXUS Forums :: 81 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
Posted by crossy - Fri 13 Jan 2012 16:35
The BBC is brainstorming plans to charge viewers of its iPlayer service for accessing archived content. … With the current licence fee costing £145.50 a year, the BBC reassured licence payers that they would still be able to access iPlayer content as they do now and confirmed that it has no plans to introduce a second licence.
BAS**RDS!

As license fee payers we've already paid for the content once, so how the heck can they justify (other than greed) wanting to charge for it again. That said, if they wanted to introduce some kind of single payment subscription scheme that allowed a subscriber to access all archived content, then I'd be (very cautiously) in favour - in so much as it's far better than the “pay per view” system hinted at in the article.

Presumably this has been bought about by the current government's hatred of the Beeb and consequently the squeezing of their finances, (widely reported). :censored:
Posted by aidanjt - Fri 13 Jan 2012 16:37
*sigh* old media mentality still being applied to the internet.
Posted by Kushan - Fri 13 Jan 2012 16:49
To be fair, it's not like the iPlayer is free to run - I'm sure it runs up a lot of bandwidth, which has to be paid for. But Would allowing access to “archived” content really increase the bandwidth in use at any given time? Surely the older content won't be anywhere near as popular as the catch-up content.

I'm all for charging international visitors to watch the content, but I don't see why we should be charged when really all it'll take is a few extra hard disks to store the content (which it probably already is on).
Posted by AlexKitch - Fri 13 Jan 2012 16:53
The sooner the TV license fee is abolished once and for all, the better.

Outdated, unfair, and extortionate.
Posted by Agent - Fri 13 Jan 2012 16:53
crossy
BAS**RDS!

As license fee payers we've already paid for the content once, so how the heck can they justify (other than greed) wanting to charge for it again.

It depends what people are being charged for.

High definition video uses a fair bit of storage, bandwidth and decent machines to serve to people. If the BBC are looking to make content available over the current free period of 7 days, but cover their costs with a fee, I really don't have a problem with this.

SEE NEWER »