BBC's next big idea is 'unmissable' TV

The Scotland, July 4, 2004
By MURDO MACLEOD

DELETE as appropriate to create a painfully familiar sentence: I don’t suppose anyone taped The Office/Sex and the City/EastEnders last night; I was too busy/distracted by the kids/drunk to remember.

That sickening feeling of missing an essential moment in television history will become a thing of the past if BBC boasts of a viewing ‘revolution’ are realised.

The corporation is testing a new system that will make an entire week’s-worth of output available at the click of a mouse.

Television addicts will be able to download any programmes they missed in the previous seven days and keep them for up to a week before they electronically self-destruct, all for free.

The service is being seen as the UK’s first version of television-on-demand, where viewers can choose what they want to see and when rather than being restricted to programme schedules.

The system, which is called Interactive Media Player (iMP), will require viewers to download software which lets them play BBC shows in high resolution on their monitor, attached television, handheld computer or mobile phone.

The iMP software will reduce the risk of piracy by protecting against copying and wiping the file clean a week after it is downloaded.

The system significantly differs from the Sky Plus service, which allows viewers to select programmes they want to record up to a week in advance. That service digitally records programmes when they are broadcast. The BBC plan is to release viewers from the schedulers altogether and allow the downloading of any programme after it has been shown.

As well as giving a second chance to anyone who missed a favourite show, it also means viewers can catch up on programmes they didn’t plan to watch, but which become the hot topic around the office water cooler.

One disadvantage of the system is that even with a standard broadband connection it could take up to four hours to download a 40-minute programme of high enough quality to watch on a television screen.

But many viewers will choose to download overnight and with the increasing availability of high-speed broadband, the time could be reduced to an hour.

It is also hoped viewers will have the option of watching programmes - albeit in lower resolution - as they are downloaded, a technique known as ‘streaming video’.

A spokeswoman for the BBC said: "It is still at the testing stage, but it will revolutionise TV viewing. You will able to watch the programmes when you want. And because you will be able to watch the shows on handheld computers or some of the more advanced mobile phones, you could even take the programmes with you on your commute and watch them on the train or the bus."

The system will also be programmable in advance, meaning that a viewer could set their computer to download regular programmes - such as soaps or dramas - rather than forcing them to check the time each week and trust to the old-fashioned video recorder.

The downloads will also be counted towards viewing figures, meaning that the BBC will be able to argue that more people are accessing their productions, thus boosting the argument for the licence fee.

The BBC spokeswoman was unable to say when the system would be made available as it was still being tested and would be evaluated later this year. So far the BBC has produced no estimate as to what the scheme will cost to develop.