OT - iPlayer access on SKY Q boxes in the news

[Chris Woods]

Sky doesn't use any public API for content delivery, and using on-demand on 
a Sky box doesn't directly access any BBC systems while downloading 
content, it comes from inside Sky's walled garden. The BBC system sends all 
content over, after it's been transcoded in the cloud, because Sky require 
delivered assets to be very particularly encoded and packaged according to 
their specs otherwise their platform can't understand it.

Even on a very fast pipe, you can imagine this would take a while... then 
there's however long Sky take to ingest the material on their side.

The 'Live to VOD' and 'File Based Delivery' methods used for the "main" 
iPlayer means programmes can be viewed about fifteen minutes after they've 
aired*, thanks to the magic of Video Factory.

* read "Video Factory: one year on", the "BBC iPlayer: bigger, better, 
faster" presentation by Rachel Evans and "Powering iPlayer from the cloud" 
on the BBC Academy site.


Delivery of iPlayer media to Sky used to be a moderately headache-inducing 
process from what I've heard, however it's now more streamlined and 
automated (still complicated!).

(opinion follows)
Sky don't really want to allow any third party branded portals for 
broadcasters to curate their own content in one place. Their argument is 
that they already have adequate categorization for discovery of on-demand, 
and want all providers to only offer their content through the Sky 
categories... Of course, Sky's own content may also be prioritised by their 
VOD interface based on what their marketing is pushing this week.

Given how Sky Q's interface is designed, a more nonpartisan "most popular" 
showcase would take a much lower priority on their EPG than the third party 
broadcaster menus. There's also the issue of the on-screen display simply 
not being designed to show that much per screen, so you could end up wading 
through massive lists for ages to find what you want - the antithesis of 
convenience and forward thinking design.

The iPlayer is a massive draw irrespective of platform, and so they have to 
provide at least some of what the customer wants. If Sky called the BBC's 
bluff and removed the iPlayer - and ITV, and All 4 - portals from Sky 
on-demand (and just merged the shows into genre menus), there'd be many 
complaints from customers and derisory laughter other broadcasters. (Eyes 
passim)


On 5 April 2017 3:33:10 p.m. Kevin Lynch <klynchk at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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"
>
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