BBC to make its TV & radio archives freely available on the internet

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3177479.stm

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Sunday, 24 August 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

dam i was going to get a video capture card and plunder their archives then sell bootlegged VCDs on eBay - oh well i guess this saves me the time and bother

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 24 August 2003 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh rock on! Classic episodes of "Top of the Pops", PLUS "Have I Got News For You"! *dances around* If EVERYTHING will truly be available, that is. OMG, if this is the case... WHOO HOO!

*pats stevem on the cranium*

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Sunday, 24 August 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

it remains to be seen how they will make the material available - much of their older footage is not in very good nick, still stored on D3 tapes. i'll be pleasantly surprised if they bother to convert their film spools library to digital format without due request/demand. if it all ends up as compressed MPEG video then sweeeet, but will the enormous bandwidth demands enable them to offer the service for free ultimately? i wouldn't object to them charging money for the material under the circumstances (tho obv. once it circulates enough for you to be able to get what you want via p2p clients then it probably won't be worth it)

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 24 August 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

that would be so great. they should do it RIGHT NOW because i won't have a tv as of next week, too.

― Maria (Maria), Sunday, 24 August 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah, balls. Sorry to burst the bubble here, but it turns out the BBC News site has been rather sloppy with the facts and misreported the story - here's what Greg Dyke actually said, courtesy of the TV Home Forum:

"We intend to allow parts of our programmes, where we own the rights, to be available to anyone in the UK to download so long as they don't use them for commercial purposes."

So in other words, it sounds like they only intend selected clips of shows to be available, and only UK residents may download them.

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Sunday, 24 August 2003 21:31 (twenty-two years ago)

makes sense considering decent digital video quality currently amounts to what - 10 megabytes for one minute? but then again there's nothing to stop them offering HUGE files for download perhaps through some kind of controlled online mechanism that prevents the servers from being overloaded.

i can't actually think of much that would be worth downloading that you can't already buy on video or DVD anyway...except a few Top Of The Pops and Later with Jools performances, various output from Lee & Herring, newman/baddiel/punt/dennis, marber/ianucci/schnyder/otherbloke...

but it would be pointless for them to upload the stuff that can already be bought, and i wouldn't expect them to bother releasing clips of something like Fist Of Fun either, but we'll see...

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 24 August 2003 21:48 (twenty-two years ago)

It turns out that all we're going to get is the clip of the elephant doing a poo on Blue Peter.

― N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 24 August 2003 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

And Del Boy falling through a bar, obviously.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 24 August 2003 22:19 (twenty-two years ago)

but no-one's going to download:

a) something that's been shown on TV a million times (e.g. the aforementioned scenes)

b) something they could buy and watch at broadcast quality on a proper TV and not their crappy PC monitor

i'm not sure Greg Dyke has really thought this through. another person at the conference this initiative was announced at stated that the BBC should show MORE repeats to 'preserve the shared memory of the nation's favourite TV moments' - what a load of shite and a flimsy attempt to justify the fact they now show more repeats than ever thanks to the digital wevolution.

― stevem (blueski), Sunday, 24 August 2003 23:19 (twenty-two years ago)

The BBC have been digitizing a lot of their material for preservation reasons for a number of years now. They actually have a well-funded factory-sytle process set up at BBC Brentford to do this. The money that's being pumped into this does suggest that greater reuse of BBC material will occur, but then with more channels, perhaps this is inevitable.

― bert (bert), Monday, 25 August 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

But does this mean at some time I may get to watch Taking Over the Asylum again, because with all their love of repeats, the Beeb never seems to re-broadcast the things I want to see again?

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 25 August 2003 20:05 (twenty-two years ago)

ally C is all "bruiser, bruiser, bruiser."

I am all "bang bang, bang bang, bang bang."

― RJG (RJG), Monday, 25 August 2003 20:07 (twenty-two years ago)

But Ally C is the only person in the world who remembers Bruiser (*disclaimer* - this was only discussed with about three people in my presence, so I am extrapolating somewhat)

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 25 August 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

No, it's true.

― Ally C (Ally C), Monday, 25 August 2003 20:30 (twenty-two years ago)

According to Martin Freeman's website, it's "worth checking BBC's digital channel listings for re-runs of Bruiser".

Yeah, right.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 25 August 2003 20:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh this is no fun at all now.

*grumbles about never ever ever getting to watch "Have I Got News For You", even though she adores Paul Merton to death and would adore seeing him interact with Angus Deayton*

*also grumbles about BBC America hating fun and not wanting to import those great classic episodes of "Top of the Pops"*

― Just Deanna (Dee the Lurker), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 00:51 (twenty-two years ago)

is "interact" a euphemism there?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I am the other man who watched Bruiser (though not as much as Cook).

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:39 (twenty-two years ago)

What about Survivors? Will we get to see the legendary second and third series?

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I am the third man who watched Bruiser. And loved it to bits. Of course, the stuff that the BBC SHOULD repeat - Takin Over The Asylum (and the other Donna Franceschild series), The Goodies, Attention Scum - probably won't be made available for download either. Sadly, I'm guessing that it's the likes of Only Fools And Horses and Men Behaving Badly that will make up the service. Which is the shame, because the BBC has a fantastic opportunity to lead the way here.

― Nathan W (Nathan Webb), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 11:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I want From A to B, Signs of the Times and 14 Days In May, but I said that already here

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 11:09 (twenty-two years ago)

, I'm guessing that it's the likes of Only Fools And Horses and Men Behaving Badly that will make up the service.

wouldn't actually make much sense because they're alredy freely available on video and DVD, even overseas. I think the real idea here is to enable students to be able to access documentaries including nature/wildlife, science, history, politics etc. - in this respect it's a great idea.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 11:27 (twenty-two years ago)

From A to B would be great. Also, A Very Peculiar Practice is U+K.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I hope so, stevem. But I await with caution what the BBC puts up under the entertainment banner. The corporation is a great denier of large and interesting parts of it's heritage (eg. Ghostwatch, Attention Scum) whilst perpetuating certain elements over and over again. Personally, I'd love to see loads of Play For Todays again but even without a commercial imperative driving it, I suspect the BBC won't offer obscurities (at least in the short term) that relatively few people are interested in, in order to establish the 'success' of the venture. I could be very wrong and I hope I am. It would be great to see the online service resembling the BBC 50 celebration programming, wouldn't it?

Peculiar Practice was meant to be out on DVD around about now but has been moved off the schedules...

― Nathan W (Nathan Webb), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 11:41 (twenty-two years ago)

All the 60s and 70s Dennis Potter plays would be great.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)

radio archives
yum yum

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

yeh the radio thing is much more interesting. i don't see why the BBC can't keep their programmes archived online permanently rather than just for a week as it stands. of course the bandwidth demands would be high but i'm sure it could be handled right. the copyright laws regarding all this business need to be updated big time to reflect technological advancements incidentally.

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I, for one, would love to see Ghostwatch repeated. And Taking Over The Asylum too, even though I saw it all on both previous showings.

Regards copyright laws: I've already noticed that Radio 4's online feed sometimes disappears, when they're broadcasting a repeat of an old show that the BBC presumably doesn't hold online broadcasting rights for.

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

BBC programme catalogue goes online

OK, this it totally great. Just as a way of seeing the BBC programmes an actor has been in. Then there's all the subject indexing.

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

Already a greasmonkey application of the data

― Alba (Alba), Friday, 28 April 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

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