ISPs threaten BBC's iPlayer - Techwatch Support Forums: Digital & Satellite TV, FTA, Cable, Computers, Mobile Phones, Apple and General Tech Forums

BGonaSTICK · 16-08-07, 10:33 AM

Internet service providers have threatened to 'pull the plug' on the BBC iPlayer unless the BBC pays the estimated £830m cost of developing enough capacity to cope with the traffic.

Amid fears that the BBC's new catch-up service could grind the internet to a halt at peak times, Ian Livingston of BT Retail, Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and Mary Turner of Tiscali are understood to have held informal talks to develop a common approach and raised their concerns with BBC new media head Ashley Highfield.

Mary Turner said: "The internet was not set up with a view to distributing video. We have been improving our capacity, but the bandwidth we have is not infinite. If the iPlayer really takes off, consumers accessing the internet will get very slow service and will call their ISPs to complain."

They have said that if the BBC does not pay for the cost of extra capacity, which Ofcom estimates will cost £830m over the next five years, they will consider limiting the number of consumers that can watch BBC programmes at one time. The alternative is to create a two-tier system of customer charges to penalise heavy users.

A senior insider at BT added: "It is certainly a live debate between ISPs [internet service providers] and the BBC. If the BBC gets the numbers it wants for iPlayer then network capacity could become an issue."

ricey · 26-10-08, 10:09 PM

They're just miffed at there being a public broadcasting service.

Could you imagine them going nuts at commerical players? Youtube will continue to generate FAR more traffic than iPlayer, why not close that too?

And of course 4oD

And Dailymotion

Oh wait...maybe that isn't possible. Damn, what now?

16-08-07, 10:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
BGonaSTICK Dodgy Geezer Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton Posts: 9,718 Thanks: 3 Thanked 166 Times in 60 Posts	ISPs threaten BBC's iPlayer Internet service providers have threatened to 'pull the plug' on the BBC iPlayer unless the BBC pays the estimated £830m cost of developing enough capacity to cope with the traffic. Amid fears that the BBC's new catch-up service could grind the internet to a halt at peak times, Ian Livingston of BT Retail, Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and Mary Turner of Tiscali are understood to have held informal talks to develop a common approach and raised their concerns with BBC new media head Ashley Highfield. Mary Turner said: "The internet was not set up with a view to distributing video. We have been improving our capacity, but the bandwidth we have is not infinite. If the iPlayer really takes off, consumers accessing the internet will get very slow service and will call their ISPs to complain." They have said that if the BBC does not pay for the cost of extra capacity, which Ofcom estimates will cost £830m over the next five years, they will consider limiting the number of consumers that can watch BBC programmes at one time. The alternative is to create a two-tier system of customer charges to penalise heavy users. A senior insider at BT added: "It is certainly a live debate between ISPs [internet service providers] and the BBC. If the BBC gets the numbers it wants for iPlayer then network capacity could become an issue." __________________ Dreambox 7000, Skystar2 PCI, Skystar USB, Fibo 90cm on Moteck SG2100, Triax TD110 multi-LNB. Sky + ART cards. 45.0°E - 58.0°W

26-10-08, 10:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
ricey Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 79 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: ISPs threaten BBC's iPlayer They're just miffed at there being a public broadcasting service. Could you imagine them going nuts at commerical players? Youtube will continue to generate FAR more traffic than iPlayer, why not close that too? And of course 4oD And Dailymotion Oh wait...maybe that isn't possible. Damn, what now?