The BBC is planning to launch an online on-demand trial service offering to make public its vast archive of video and audio files. The trial was announced by the BBC’s Future Media boss Ashley Highfield at the MIPTV television trade show in Cannes on Wednesday.

A statement on the BBC archive web page said, “The BBC is looking for people to join a six-month trial in which 20,000 UK residents will get free access to hundreds of programs from the BBC archive, including reports of historic events as they happened, ground-breaking documentaries, soaps, action-packed children’s shows, sumptuous dramas, and comedy shows that thrilled the nation.”

Highfield said that Freeview boxes, each having its own Internet connection, would be used at the trial, which is expected to take place next month.

The archive trial will make available 1,000 hours of content drawn from shows ranging from serious documentaries to classic shows such as It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. Over 500 hours of the material will be focusing on all kinds of genres and topics, the remaining clippings will contain shows featuring India and Pakistan.

This test would help the company decide on the amount of content they should provide for free viewing and what should be released through licensing. The data collected by the BBC during the trial will be used to shape its upcoming on-demand download service.

If the pilot is successful and the BBC wants to make the service generally available, it will almost certainly have to be approved by the BBC Trust. The trust will have to discuss the plans with Ofcom to make sure that such service will not affect other competitors such as Sky or BT Vision.

The trust will also have to make an important decision of whether making the archive available for free or to generate revenue for the company.

Related:

Entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 10:18 am under Online video, Technology.

Read more entries by Ruben Francia.
Stumble It!