BBC iPlayer to be reworked? September 14, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Internet , trackbackLast week, it was reported that the government was asking the BBC to make iPlayer available on a wider range of operating systems, rather than just on Windows. There has been a lot of comment on the desirability (or not) of this Microsoft tie-in, DRM issues and the use of peer-to-peer networking, but all of that misses the point.
The real issue with the iPlayer the random selection of available programmes. Even for an iconic BBC series like Dr Who, they aren’t able to consistently make episodes available as promised. As I write, iPlayer tells me that the two episodes which screened in the last two days are available, but when I go to download it changes it’s mind. They’re stopped loading up Mock the Week, Cosmos has been erratic, and the messageboards are full of frustrated users asking what is going on, while conspicuously lacking replies from the ‘iPlayer host’ BBC staffers who normally respond.
Utterly unsubstantiated rumour from a girl in the pub with a developer mate who’s been working on the iPlayer project suggests that they are going to ditch the whole sorry experiment and try again. I hope they do. The BBC is far too important to allow this to blight its excellent online reputation.
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