OT - iPlayer access on SKY Q boxes in the news

[Kevin Lynch]

This story from P13 Private Eye Vol 1441 (7 April '17) is OT but as
people who follow BBC iPlayer developments closely I thought it would
be interesting to see how the Sky Q box (presumably) continues to use
the legacy api and how the story explodes into questions about fair
access
It never occurred to me that the Sky boxes could be still on the older
API's, seems like the Private Eye journalist was briefed by someone
close to iPlayer development

Kevin

"WHY is a BBC iPlayer so useless?" asked Sky's pompous pundit-in-chief
Adam Boulton, playing catch-up and trying to find Andrew Neil's
interview with Theresa May on the day the PM had sent her Article 50
letter to Brussels. "Where are the @afneil interviews tonight?
Hearing from a Twitter follower who was watching the programme that
very moment on iPlayer, Boulton begged: "Where? How do I find it?"
Four minutes later he was still searching: All I can find is lame BBC
drama and bloody Red Nose Day
Stymied at every turn, Boulton's frustration only grew as he ranted
about "fair access" and convinced himself the BBC was sabotaging
access to its programmes for Sky customers. At 10.27pm (the interview
had gone out on BBC1 at 7pm) he concluded: "BTW it's still not on my
iPlayer and BBC News is patronising me"
Alas! Boulton should really take up his grievance with the recently appointed
chairman of Sky, James Murdoch. For it is Murdoch's company which has
refused to give viewers "fair access" to the BBC's standard iPlayer on
its supposedly state-of-the-art Q boxes, using instead an inferior
legacy version which takes on average three hours before programmes
are available, rather than letting audiences catch up from the moment
of broadcast
As Ofcom begins its investigation into whether even greater media power for the
Dirty Digger is in the public interest, it is unlikely to be impressed
by Sky's apparently cynical attempt to frustrate and restrict viewer
choice"