On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 11:48 AM, Nick Reynolds-FM&T <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> This is Ashley's post in case anyone missed it: > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/04/hidden_costs_of_watching_ > tv_on.html<http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/04/hidden_costs_of_watching_tv_on.html> > > Subject: [backstage] BBC tells ISPs to get stuffed > > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/03/bbc_highfield_isp_threat/ > > "Relationships between the BBC and internet industry have plunged to an > all-time low, after the BBC's internet chief Ashley Highfield used a > blog post yesterday to tell ISPs to get stuffed - and even threatened to > name and shame them." > Personally, I think The Register has got this totally wrong. Firstly, I think Highfield talks a lot of sense - at least these things need to be said in the open and it's good to hear the BBC saying them. The Register takes a very defensive position, as if it is an ISP. It makes a bunch of dodgy assertions and attempts to mock Highfield, thus: - Highfield also raised eyebrows with his assertion that "The best technical solution is usually Moore's law". An oddly ignorant thing to say, since the capacity and price of copper and fibre connections have very little to do with the density of transistors on a semiconductor die. Earth to Ashley: Ceci n'est pas une pipe. but Moore's law can be applied to many areas of digital progression: "Almost every measure of the capabilities of digital electronic devices is linked to Moore's Law: processing speed, memory capacity, even the resolution of digital cameras. All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well. This has dramatically increased the usefulness of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy.[6] Moore's Law describes this driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries." (Wikipedia) To me it looks like this: - the ISPs make a living selling us broadband with all sorts of claims about speed (8mb) and bandwidth (unlimited), most of which turn out to be stretching the truth a lot - we buy broadband to access all that is available online including media - the BBC is a producer of media and makes it available online - the ISPs cry foul and demand payment from the BBC for giving access to it - the BBC urges the ISPs to look at their pricing strategy and to see whether there may be a better and fairer method of structuring this Now, speaking as someone who has been in this game since a 12000 baud modem was considered pretty nifty - and who can remember the constant refrain of 'this is as fast as copper can be forced to carry this stuff' every time a new baud rate was introduced, I'd say the ISPs will sort this thing out through a combination of technology and pricing. Consider this for a moment. An ISP could decide to block access to BBC content. They'd probably try not to mention this, but they could make it a selling point - "Use us - you won't get access to the BBC iPlayer but at least we'll be making more profit and won't go bust". Imagine how many customers they'd have after a few months. Or an ISP could do this - "Ultra fast access to BBC iPlayer and all other media streaming plus [insert media package of choice here] with REAL unlimited streaming for the low low price of £**" Truth is, it will all fall somewhere in the middle and is market driven. One thing you can't really do is a)expect media companies not to make content available or b)pay the ISPs for distribution So I don't really see how this could put the ISPs backs up. If I was they, I would just concentrate on the knitting, i.e. working out how to provide what the consumer wants. Cheers, Ivan -- Ivan Pope Snipperoo Widget Conference WebWidgetExpo June 16 & 17 2008 New York http://widgetwebexpo.com 50 Providence Place BN1 4GE Brighton 01273808458 blog.snipperoo.com directory.snipperoo.com
