

BBC to open online news archives to commercial press - theblackbox
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8171684.stm

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theblackbox
Thought this was an interesting tack given the highly publicized Associated
Press dohicky and the decline and fall of printed media

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ErrantX
that was my first thought too.

The BBC is in a funny position here in the UK. Personally I find it's news
(especially the online division) divisions excellent compared to other
broadcasters and online news agencies.

So this is a good thing (spread the content out etc.)

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theblackbox
Yeah, I reckon it's a step in the right direction. But I have often thought
about why the BBC hasn't embraced new media in an attempt to project the
corporations aims onto a much higher plain. Their whole "bytesized" revision
gumph was a heap of shite compared to what they _could_ offer considering the
vast amount of programme data they have available. Why this model is being
restricted to previously broadcast _news_ , is beyond me. The revenue that
could be generated from selling high quality documentaries and other archived
material (Reith Lectures, The Forum, BBC Proms, etc.) could be huge. Guess
"Dave" is a case in point for this in terms of light entertainment, but I
would prefer to see some more forward thinking initiatives (I've talked about
my desire for BBC iPlayer to embrace torrents on HN before - share the load,
localise data, distribute the cost of archiving and retrieving).

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ErrantX
a lot of the stuff they cant sell commerically because of the limitations
placed on the BBC. They do have a commercial arm (which is what runs dave) but
it's confusing quite what that owns (right's wise).

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theblackbox
True. I remember reading about the pressure being put on BBC's commercial arm
by the British press due to the vast sums of money it can rake in. The problem
being that license payers have paid for this, and so _should_ be considered
shareholders(?), and yet we get no choice in how BBC media is used
commercially or how the fortunes are reinvested. Seems a shame that the BBC
cowers in the background, perpetually outputting a standard quality product
when in truth it has the opportunity to truly innovate. Dunno, maybe I'm just
expecting too much from them, but I can't help but think that somewhere along
the line, they missed a trick.

