I don't know exactly what iMP is, so I hope I am not totally off-base here...
However, I am a (US) American who would defnitely be willing to pay (if the price were reasonable) for BBC content. My main interest is the radio programming, which someone here said isn't a problem to distribute, but I am also somewhat interested in BBC TV. Right now, I cannot even get The World Service Radio in English _on the radio_ during most of the day. The World Service is broadcast for only a few hours a day on my local "public" radio station (this actually means "private, non commercial" -- US "Public Radio" is nonprofit but privately owned & operated, supported by individual and corporate donations and a very small amount of indirect government subsidies). In the past, Americans could get World Service radio directly from the BBC on other bands (MW or LW), but now that isn't beamend towards the U.S. The web site provides streaming and some on-demand access to programs, but not full archives or downloadable versions of most programs. (I have enjoyed the podcasting trial of From Our Own Correspondent, for example, but that is an experiment.) I quite understand that the BBC is funded by UK Licensing fees and that they cannot afford to offer me all the services for free that license-payers get for their money. But I would be happy to pay for my content if I could afford it. After all, I donate money to my public radio stations and pay for cable TV and Internet access, so I am accustomed to paying for media content. I cannot get the BBC content at any price right now, at least not easily. (One issue is that I do not have broadband, so that maybe iMP would not help me. Broadband is much more prevalent in Europe and Asia than in the U.S., and so what I really want is to get my BBC content on the radio and TV!) Is the BBC Radio (and if so, which stations?) available on satellite radio? That is quite expensive & impractical (especially for non automobile use) still but I'd consider subscribing to satellite radio if I could get the World Service and Radio 4. Millie ----- Original Message ----- From: "James" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 10:40 AM Subject: Re: [backstage] iMP > Releasing iMP to the world would almost end piracy of the BBC's content. > Releasing it to the UK would still keep all the BBC's content available > over the net through the standard ways. What better way to maintain > control and quality than to irradicate the need for piracy of BBC content..? > > I actually wouldn't object to paying for this as a seperate service and > I wouldnt be suprised if this is not the way forward for non-uk > citizens. Seems fair enough, we pay our £££ per year and if Joel from > America wants it, he can but it'll cost him a percentage of the standard > lic. fee. > > > Andrew Bowden wrote: > > >>>>I'm at work so I can't check at the moment, but ISTR that my telly > >>>>licence has a unique reference number with it. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>This is going back a few years (say about 3-4). I used to buy my > >>>license from the old Post Office, and those didn't have a unique > >>>number on them. The ones you get sent by TV Licensing do. > >>> > >>> > >>Hmm, I didn't know that. I wonder how you get them to move > >>the licence to > >>a new property when you move house if you don't have a > >>licence number? > >>The online form[1] has the licence number as a required field. > >> > >> > > > >I remember filling in that form back in October 2001 and thinking > >exactly the same! IIRC, I just put down that I had no license number. > >But there wasn't a knock on my door, and when it came up for renewal, > >the letter came from the right address. > > > > > > > > > >- > >Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > > > > > > > > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
