That was quick
BBC iPlayer gets go-ahead
Thankfully proving that the new BBC Trust doesn't drag its heels when making those crucial decisions, the somewhat-controversial iPlayer service finally gets the go-ahead. Compared with the "Let's see what the market supports" approach of Channel 4's 4oD service, iPlayer will naturally be rather more generous with its free service provision.
As probably expected, the conditions placed upon the iPlayer service have inevitably become a compromise between what BBC management wanted and of the "Let's stop it now because the commercial sector is hanging itself" Ofcom variety. The commercial sector may have wanted more restrictions but it honestly cannot insist on any more than what it has got.
In particular the rationale behind the restrictions imposed on the series stacking facility are still rather baffling from my perspective, but it's far more important to get the service up and running first and let the public see for themselves what the fuss is about - there's plenty of time in the future for this sort of thing to be debated and (perhaps) changed for the better.
And proving that the BBC may get it right most of the time but still finds time for making a bad decision, the BBC Trust has stipulated that the BBC ought to make the iPlayer more platform-agnostic as opposed to just supporting Windows XP/WMP 10, though this may be a lot easier said than done for purely technical reasons (notably digital rights management).
