Hi Adrian, I know I sound grumpy and ungrateful. The BBC are amazing, and leading the way. I'm moaning about two things 1) that they are obsessed with DRM, from what I hear from friends inside and 2) they are making their distribution technology based on this obsession. The BBC archive is potentially an incredible resource, but it looks like it will be locked up. One of the reasons I'm concerned is that the BBC do set such an example to other organisations.
Also, it could get in the way of what they will surely want to do at some point in the near future - make their videos and media fully networkable from within - not just embed it dumbly in a page or pump out inert podcasts. I have always thought the BBC would be the most likely to start developing major hypervideo projects, and I'm worried that they haven't thought this far ahead in their technology choices, because they're just concerned with DRM. Unnecessarily, I think. And you mentioned their internal realignment - they're making good steps in some places, but while they talk the talk as far as multi- platform content, there's still a long way to go. The cultures within are still TV, Radio, Web in isolation, and then the genres within that - drama series, drama serials, docs, news, etc - and as in all organisations most people feel threatened by change and don't understand the web. A lot of computers in the BBC won't play BBC videos. And there are some bright sparks in management, but apparently there's a lot of ignorance and empire-building, too. Add to this the regulator's concerns, posted by Steve yesterday - a regulator heavily influenced by the commercial channels. I just want to question whether these things are being done right. Oh, God, I'm sounding grumpy again. Rupert
