TV Times

Riyad is absolutely right, I think. I'm from Ireland, and would happily pay the Beeb a subscription for access to the iPlayer. As it stands, like everyone else in Ireland, I get the Beeb for free (via Welsh and Northern Irish transmitters), but I'd be happy to pay for something like the iPlayer.

This would be a wholly new revenue stream for the Beeb, which could only bolster its purse-strings leading to more/better content or even a drop in the licence fee.

All it's going to take is for piracy to get to the point where networks realise that people's primary objection is not paying, but waiting. At that point, it becomes worth their while rethinking business models. But until then, expect dogged defence of an outmoded business model, coupled with much fingers-in-the-ears, yelling "La la la, I can't hear you!"

Some useful links regarding rights etc

http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/about_iplayer/tvlicence
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer

The Kangaroo on-demand pay per view collaboration between the beeb. ITV, C4 and C5 should eventually offer a limited selection of programming made available internationally if it ever sees the light of day. Sky and Virgin are not happy with what they see as potentially unfair competition, hence a delay in development. All this gleaned from the iplayer messageboards (link provided above).

You have to understand contracts within TV productions. I quote from just four weeks ago:

The Screen Actors Guild on Thursday gave its most detailed explanation yet for its rejection of a final contract offer by Hollywood studios. In a letter to SAG’s 120,000 members, Doug Allen, the guild’s executive director, claimed the offer would allow nonunion actors into “almost all new media productions for the foreseeable future."
It said the producers’ offer also would leave out residual fees paid to actors for content that is retransmitted on the Web.

“A program originally made for ABC.com could be available for re-viewing on ABC.com ... as often as possible and forever with no residuals," Allen wrote. “The stakes are too high to concede."

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers responded with an equally detailed statement describing its Internet offer as “a major advancement" from the previous contract.

so it is all to do with contracts and negotiations..

And you can now see why the torrent scene is growing month on month. If I want to see the latest series & episodes such as Dexter, Grey's Anatomy etc, I (like many hundreds of thousands of other people) am not going to wait until the BBC or others feel I should. I can get free access to the latest episodes a few hours hours after they are first aired in the USA. It is so simple, safe, and more importantly free. I am not going to write a letter to Points of View or the Director-General of the BBC. That doesn't get my point across.

As Riyad ended his article, these companies need to 'wake up' to the current digital world otherwise they will end up in a situation similar to that of the music industry. I am not advocating free content for all, but if these TV shows were available on programs such as iplayer with a minimum of advertising I would be connecting to their service and not downloading a torrent.

It is people such as the torrent downloaders (and I am sure I am not the only one posting here) who are making these corporations sit up, take notice and plan for a future of more digital choice. More power to the people!