back to article BBC announces plans to spend your cash on digital goodies

BBC Director General Tony Hall has announced a bunch of new features for its digital products that show the corporation at its most imaginative – and its most cynical. The most interesting is new and still fairly modest: integration between the BBC's music output and third-party commercial music services – and it launches today …

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Anonymous Coward

The BBC?

Ah yes, I remember them. Stiil going are they?

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Re: The BBC?

They are. And they're still the only people in the UK producing TV that's worth watching and radio that's worth listening to. With a few exceptions.

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Anonymous Coward

hah !

Maybe they should concentrate on more immediate issues - like repairing the Windows IPlayer Desktop which they've just broken in its new 'IPlayer Downloads' guise.

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Silver badge

Re: hah !

The main thing I can see that's broken in iPlayer Downloads - in that they haven't bothered to include it (yet?) - is that there's no series link option. Other than that, it seems to work okay for me.

A related problem, but which isn't to do with the software, is the seemingly random amount of time between an programme being aired and it appearing on the iPlayer website - but that problem was also there before.

On the flip side, the download links on the iPlayer website now work in Firefox; they never seemed to work for me before the switch to iPlayer Downloads.

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Anonymous Coward

Stop creating apps, software and other crap. Make TV programmes.

If you need software buy it.

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plus ça change

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/7182/BBC-Computer-Literacy-Project/

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Anonymous Coward

But now with flashing DOGs?

I remember that (I think)! First build your light pen, then hold it over the blob. The 21st century re-imagining could involve pulsating QR codes, which could keep students of recreational phamaceuticals amused.

But for both services, expect BBC Worldwide to announce 'complementary' services closer to launch.

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Anonymous Coward

MyBBC

The really good news is that now, with the MyBBC plans, we won't be 'licence fee payers' we'll be owners. And I assume that means we can commission our own new programmes and get them aired for free?

Personally I want 24/7 Dr Lucy Worsley...

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Silver badge

Abdominal fenestrative implants all round

In the earIy '80s I spent about six months helping a mate to lay or repair carpets at Bush House for the Beebs World Service offices and studios.

One of the lasting impressions was being told to stop working and keep quiet while a broadcast from the studio I was working in was sent out to somewhere like Chad or the upper Congo.

The subject being broadcast to Africa was not as I would have thought World News or something useful like how to make water safe to drink, it was Cordon Bleu cooking!

I thought at the time 'These idiots have no idea about their actual audience'.

I guess the same is still true!

Is it mandatory for Beeb management to have their collective heads up their collective arses before they can be appointed?

Perhaps they can divert some of their considerable gravy to the NHS and do a deal for corrective surgery (see above).

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Anonymous Coward

Re: Abdominal fenestrative implants all round

I'm guessing the audience was not the general populace, but another type of general?

Hey, wait, I made a joke without realizing it!

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On a similar note

How did that BBC Micro initiative work out again?

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Silver badge

Re: On a similar note

Extremely well?

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Bronze badge

Re: On a similar note

Pretty badly. Substandard kit at high price as I recall it.

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Silver badge

Re: On a similar note

They had huge penetration into schools and made a difference teaching kids how to program. I programmed I/O stuff on one in high school as late as 2001, and I own another unit myself. Wasn't that the point of the effort? To teach people?

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Headmaster

Re: On a similar note

That's a definition of 'substandard' of which I wasn't previously aware.

Among its contemporaries it was one of the best: a good, solid keyboard with better ergonomics than most of its competitors, an excellent Basic interpreter with integrated assembler, extensive documentation, and on the B several I/O options you wouldn't find on most of the others. Minuses were indeed its high price and the way video memory would eat into its 32k system RAM.

Couple of years back I rescued one from the skip, hooked up a monitor, plugged it in and it started right up. All of the other units I have (3 model B's in total, a Master 128, two Electrons and two Atoms) were still working fine too, last time I checked (two years ago, before packing them because I was moving)

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Byz

Install...

Risc OS on a Raspberry PI and they can go back to the 80's and do the BBC Micro again :)

BBC Basic could ride again :)

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Re: Install...

You beat me to it. I was just thinking "this is mostly going to be about the Raspi isn't it?". Not that that would be a bad thing. I've been far too lazy to even boot mine up more than a couple of times.

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Anonymous Coward

Give them more room to dominate and it will hopefully speed up the demise of the BBC. How about they dominate childrens phone apps, or streaming media or audio or costing more than the a trip to mars every year in cash money.

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A kids phone app that doesn't include ads? No in-app purchases? No new Mattell toy tie-in?

Yes please. More of them.

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Anonymous Coward

They could also provide the most popular news, tv programs, apps, games. Just make sure you pay them on time.

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Anonymous Coward

It amazes the short-sighted narrow-minded crap that spouts from the keyboards of some of the people on here.

The BBC may not be perfect, no organisation is. But... have you ever sat and watched commercial television for more than half an hour? It's terrible. No matter if it is ITV, 5 or Sky (Channel 4 has the odd nugget), it is invariably truly awful.

The alternative is, of course, to import more trash TV from over the pond. Please no. There are enough channels on that are crammed full of appalling "comedies" that have no value whatsoever.

I can quite happily let my children watch Cbeebies, safe in the knowledge that they will not be subjected to adverts every 10 minutes for the latest US-driven bullshit fad toy. They won't have third-rate Japanese playing-card cartoons, nor any crappy Disney drivel. Instead they will see people with British accents, entertaining them , whilst teaching them the values of friendship, helping others and politeness. They will be educated without realising it. All of which is absent from Nickelodeon, Disney Junior or, even worse, Tiny Pop.

I've just sat and watched The Great British Year. Who cares to tell me that that is a programme that would be made by commercial or American TV? ITV haven't made anything worthwhile in the area of the natural world since Survival in the 70's and American wildlife programmes are full of melodramatic music, irritating voice overs and shaky "all action" camera work.

If you don't like the BBC, that's your loss, you obviously enjoy trash TV of the lowest standard. Go live in America or Australia for while, watch the local stuff, and then realise what you're criticising actually produces some of the finest TV programmes available, anywhere.

No, I'm no BBC shill, don't work for them, never have. I am just an ordinary licence-paying individual. I don;t watch much TV, but, when I do, then I'd say 90% of it originates from them, whether watching new or old stuff.

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Silver badge

@AC - Well said!

I agree. Yes, the BBC produces some rubbish, but it also produces some excellent dramas too and documentaries as well.

How many "commercial" channels would dare to produce the sorts of fascinating documentaries and similar factual programming that appears on BBC 4?

Their attitude would be "oh no, too niche, too obscure, we wouldn't get enough people watching to cover the costs and get advertising in. A series on Australian art? Too boring. Medieval Lives? Who would want to watch that? "Pain, pus and poisons" Eww! No way!!

Or what about "Only Connect"? No whooping audience (hell, no audience at all!), no big prizes, no flashy graphics or flashing lights, just some seriously brain-teasing puzzles.

Sure, programmes like these aren't to everyone's taste, but at least such programming *is* available, rather than endless variations on Britain's Got Strictly Big Brother through a Hole in the Wall on Ice...

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Bronze badge

Re: @AC - Well said!

Yeah, my only issue is they don't do enough of what they're good at (stuff that wouldn't make it on commercial TV but is extremely high quality, and often makes the Beeb piles of cash - Horizon, Newsnight, and dare I say it Top Gear), and too much stuff that that isn't fit for them like Strictly and EastEnders that other numpty chans could do.

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Silver badge

Instead they will see people with British accents, entertaining them , whilst teaching them the values of friendship, helping others and politeness. They will be educated without realising it. All of which is absent from Nickelodeon, Disney Junior or, even worse, Tiny Pop.

I'm not entirely certain why British accents are required, but your post does imply a certain...bias towards the homelands?

And I believe Tiny Pop now has the new My Little Pony, which is in my opinion one of the finest, best written cartoons produced for children in quite some time. It is absolutely superb, and I'm pretty certain that a series subtitled "Friendship is Magic" covers all the bases of "friendship, helping others and politeness". But I'm sure you'll dismiss it because it's made in Vancouver.

If you don't like the BBC, that's your loss, you obviously enjoy trash TV of the lowest standard.

Well that's not snobbish or patronising at all.

Go live in America or Australia for while, watch the local stuff, and then realise what you're criticising actually produces some of the finest TV programmes available, anywhere.

As a British ex-pat currently hiding out in Canada, you're surprisingly ignorant. Sure, the US has some quite astonishing crap, as does the UK, and the BBC is more than capable of producing both quality and crap - see "Two Pints" or the state of the modern Panorama for examples of the latter. That said, shows like The Wire, Deadwood, The West Wing, and so on all come from our American friends, and are quite excellent.

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Anonymous Coward

Re: @AC - Well said!

BBC drama?

It's the most compelling reason for removing the license fee. BBC drama is embarrassing.

The WIre, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos - all funded by subscription. Amazing TV.

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Re: @AC - Well said!

>The WIre, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos - all funded by subscription. Amazing TV.

Spot on. America produces some fantastic TV, and the subscription model makes a lot of difference. Advertisers want lowest common denominator drivel because the people who like TV they don't have to think about are the same people who buy what they are told to by advertisers.

I'd be happy to scrap the licence fee and pay for the stuff I want. I'd get BBC1, 2 & 4 and Radios 4 & 6. I already own a Family Guy box set so I'd skip BBC3.

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Anonymous Coward

Re: @AC - Well said!

The WIre, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos - all funded by subscription. Amazing TV.

If you like watching drama about organised crime, corruption, drugs and violence. Not everyone does.

As for the comments inferring I'm some kind of snob for wanting my kids to listen to British accents... you're wrong. Nothing wrong with accents. I just want my kids to grow up being able to pronounce words correctly. I don't want them to think there's a strange metal called aloooominum, that you sodder things together or that you cook with urbs.

I hear enough of teenagers talking like some weird half-American gangsta, totally unable to speak coherently, and quite obviously incapable of holding intelligent conversations. Give me TV full of Welsh, Scottish, Geordies, Scousers, Mancs, Yorkshire, even Brummie... let my kids hear the accents of Britain, not North America.

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Silver badge

Re: @AC - Well said!

Give me TV full of Welsh, Scottish, Geordies, Scousers, Mancs, Yorkshire, even Brummie... let my kids hear the accents of Britain, not North America.

But not the West Country, eh? Eh? Regionist!

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Anonymous Coward

Re: @AC - Well said!

"If you like watching drama about organised crime, corruption, drugs and violence. Not everyone does."

That's probably because organised crime, corruption, drugs and violence by it's very nature tends to be a bit...dramatic? It's probably something to do with the whole forbidden fruit thing.

"Nothing wrong with accents. I just want my kids to grow up being able to pronounce words correctly."

Then it's your responsibility to teach them, not rely on a TV show to do it for you.

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Anonymous Coward

Re: @AC - Well said!

I hear enough half-American gangsta accents too.

But you missed my point. The AC said the BBC makes great drama, therefore we need a license fee, and anyone who changes this arrangement is a philistine.

My point is that the BBC makes terrible contemporary drama (about Britain now) and the USA produces amazing contemporary drama. Maybe subscriptions would change that - it hasn't done American TV any harm.

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they are not using my money

i don't have a Tv licence, so they are not using my money to pay for this stuff. i am so glad I am not paying for a useless +1 channels or for a new Iplayer.

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