Request for BBC Contact - OT

[Owen Smith]

Actually it was US broadcast industry big business interest that killed the US iPlayer, they didn't want the competition. And given the BBC licences content from these companies they have the muscle to bully the BBC. Not to mention the ear of US authorities behind the scenes.

-- 
Owen Smith <owen.smith at cantab.net>
Cambridge, UK

> On 6 Apr 2016, at 08:08, <d.lake at surrey.ac.uk> <d.lake at surrey.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> 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. 
>