Request for BBC Contact - OT

Wed Apr 6 00:29:59 PDT 2016

Couldn't agree more. I spent over 8 years in the Cayman Islands, which in
turn supplied only said US channels (even the technical quality of the "HD"
broadcasts looks like some throwback to 1982). Given Cayman is a British
Overseas Territory with thousands of Brit ex-pats living there, you'd think
the beeb would be interested when I approached them with a large group of
people willing to trial a paid overseas subscription model (which if
successful could be replicated in many larger markets).

I just received a curt "not interested" response. They didn't even want to
engage. GiP was my saving grace.

It seems that the commercial aspect of the BBC is just devoid of ideas, or
maybe it's the legacy it can't shake? Having now returned to the UK I still
use selective downloading as my way of watching TV (I highly recommend
"Plex" BTW). I find the current plethora of UK TV channels is heading the
"American way", with dozens of channels showing not an awful lot. 

In terms of technical ability and broadcasting content, the BBC is way ahead
of the curve, but I fear for the future of it (especially given the recent
round of budget cuts). It has such an opportunity here, sadly I do not think
it has the means - nor the appetite - to grasp it.

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: get_iplayer [mailto:get_iplayer-bounces at lists.infradead.org] On Behalf
Of d.lake at surrey.ac.uk
Sent: 06 April 2016 08:08
To: s_byers666 at yahoo.co.uk; get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org;
artisticforge at gmail.com
Subject: RE: Request for BBC Contact - OT

SB

You make some interesting points.  When I lived (briefly - 4 1/2 years was
all I could stand....) in the US (California), I would have GLADLY paid
Auntie whatever they wanted in order to access Radio 3, Radio 4,
occasionally R5L, BBC2 and BBC4 programmes.

For those of you who have not spent time in the US, the state of broadcast
media is dire - even the better outlets such as NPR are mostly terrible and
stuffed with adverts/pledge-drives/sponsorship.   Television is SO bad it
isn't even worth trying.  I had 400 channels of what appeared to be constant
adverts, shopping, formulaic police drama, religion or sports! 

(BTW, I include BBC America as a US channel - we referred to it as "Twee TV"
because it appeared to show a US-stereotypical view of British life.
Downton Abbey (yes!), Doctor Who and Top Gear.  Hmm).

I relied on a heap of back-door methods to work-around the lack of movement
on an international iPlayer from the Beeb.   I knew (admittedly low numbers)
of Americans (mostly who'd live abroad at some point) who were avid Beeb
listeners/viewers who also found it incredulous that the Beeb didn't provide
subscription-based iPlayer access outside the UK. 

So, quite honestly, the Beeb is missing a serious trick here.  Sweeping
generalisation here I know, but we found the cost of cable TV, broadband and
mobile phones in the US to be many-times the price they are in the UK and
therefore it appears that Americans are willing/able to pay more for their
content than we are here in the UK.   There is a source of revenue waiting
to be tapped.

But the US iPlayer was canned, programmes that I enjoyed on the BBC World
Service (e.g. Just A Minute, A World of Music, drama, etc) removed and
massive geo-blocking imposed on BBC radio (and a total block on BBC TV).

Even to serve the British diaspora alone, there MUST be a profitable service
here somewhere.  It is hardly surprising therefore, given the mostly
excellent quality of the BBC that there is demand and that that demand will
be fulfilled in non-conventional ways if the Beeb fail to capitalise on the
huge value they hold.

So I'm afraid I have little sympathy here - self-inflicted through Beeb's
intransigence, IMvHO. 

D
-----Original Message-----
From: get_iplayer [mailto:get_iplayer-bounces at lists.infradead.org] On Behalf
Of S Byers
Sent: 06 April 2016 05:30
To: get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org; artisticforge .
<artisticforge at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Request for BBC Contact - OT

You could ask here:

missingepisodes.proboards.com

They are not that interested in Radio but they do have the connections you
seek.

In a way what you report is inevitable. And I think that you are going to
see more of such sharing or trading. At least the person isn't selling the
programmes you mention. And what they are offering is likely to be at low
bitrates - even programmes from iPlayer are only at a max of 128 kbps.
Recordings from DAB broadcasts are even worse.

The OTR scene is huge. The various BBC programmes' fan bases is also huge.
And don't forget hundreds if not thousands of programmes and episodes have
been saved by home-recordists when the Beeb has wiped its own versions. 

Incidentally a friend of mine had many recorded programmes on reel-reel /
cassette tapes from 40 / 50 years' ago. These were offered back to the Beeb
- who declined the offer. They were only interested in having broadcast
quality recordings of such that would be commercially viable, e.g. Dad's
Army, Navy Lark, etc. Since the Beeb isn't interested in what I have then
where should these recordings go? Maybe into the public domain - like Paul
Temple - or more likely in his case landfill?

But this draconian policy of the Beeb at refusing home-taped programmes from
long ago is not all.

Recently the Beeb reportedly lost millions of license fee payers' cash in an
abortive project to digitise its own archives.

The BBC Shop has just closed down.

The BBC Store online basically doesn't work.

In recent years the demise of RadioArchive and TB really upset OTR (and
other) fans.

So other sharing sites have sprung up. Magnet / DHT is rising in popularity
rather than private trackers.

The Usenet Groups are still active - but the technology has grown old.

In the USA there are numerous Yahoo Groups and fans devoted to OTR who are
collecting, restoring, documenting and archiving long lost series of radio
programmes.

In the UK we have nothing like this.

So the Paul Temple programmes you mention have appeared on more up-to-date
media channels. Maybe you and we should be grateful that they have been
saved for the fans and not wiped forever.

Just a few thoughts - SB

--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 6/4/16, artisticforge . <artisticforge at gmail.com> wrote:

 Subject: Request for BBC Contact - OT
 To: get_iplayer at lists.infradead.org
 Date: Wednesday, 6 April, 2016, 4:04

 Hello

 I have come upon several cases of current BBC copyrighted  material  being
offered for free download on the internet & not by  the BBC.

 One case is offering all 11 Series of Inspector McLevy the  BBC Radio 4
Drama.
 Another case is a Podcast listing on the iTunes Store also  offering  the
Inspector McLevy & Paul Temple episodes for free  download.

 I am looking for a contact who takes there violations  seriously and  takes
action against them.
 I am tired of the standard BBC e-mail because nothing ever  happens.

 --
 terry l. ridder ><>

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