BBC takes first steps towards TV on the internet

1.00pm - By IAN BURRELL

Later this month the BBC will launch a pilot project that will be the first step in a process that could lead to all television programmes being made available on the internet.

Viewers will be able to scan a guide on their computer screens and download any show they want to see. Programmes will be viewable on a computer screen, or could be burned onto a DVD to be watched through a television set.

Alternatively, they could be downloaded onto a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a hand-held computer that is becoming increasingly popular in Britain and sells from around £70 ($124).

The revolutionary plan has been drawn up by Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of new media and technology. He revealed details of the project to The Independent last week.

"If we don't enter this market, then exactly what happened to the music industry could happen to us, where we ignore it, keep our heads in the sand and everybody starts posting the content up there and ripping us off," he said.

Mr Highfield said the quality of the programmes will be so high that the experience of watching a show on a PDA will be similar to that of viewing an in-flight film on the seatback of an aircraft.

The three-week pilot - called iMP (Internet Media Player) - will allow a privileged band of 500 of the corporation's staff to step into this new world of viewing.

They will be given PDAs and access to a range of BBC programmes that will include the soap EastEnders and the hospital drama Holby City. Also available are the factual series One Life, the dramas Cutting It and Grease Monkeys, the motoring show Top Gear and news bulletins.

Sneak previews of parts of programmes will also be offered but no full shows will be viewable until they have gone on air. The programmes will then be available online for a week.

"We might get an over-positive response because I think a lot of BBC staff would love to be able to catch up on the programmes they missed last night on the bus or on the train," said Highfield.

"The quality is staggeringly good. It's slightly better than you get on the seat backs if you are in a plane although PDAs have a slightly smaller screen. With your headphones on it's totally watchable."

After the BBC pilot, an external trial will be launched with 1,000 people picked from subscribers with broadband service providers AOL, BT and Tiscali.

The trial will examine whether people watch more television with iMP, and if they change viewing patterns.

"If it seems that for a substantial part of the audience this is a very valuable way to consume media then this is something we are going to have to take seriously," Highfield said. "We will have to take some punts but if the feedback is strongly positive we will have to look at how we clear bulk content and how we start to roll this out widely."

The plan is to make all television programmes from the previous week available on the internet via a programme guide similar to that already used by digital television viewers.

The inspiration for the idea is the BBC Radio Player scheme that has made the corporation's radio schedule available online for listeners unable to catch programmes at their scheduled times. The service was expected to be popular with fans of late-night shows like Radio One's dance music programme Essential Selection but has also been embraced by fans of Radio 4.

"We knew it was going to appeal to the downloading generation -- the surprise was that we serve several hundred thousand fans of The Archers every week."

The iMP project is driven by research that shows that people increasingly find it difficult to align their highly-valued free-time with the fixed TV schedules. Homes with personal video recorders (PVRs) like Sky Plus already "time-shift" 70 per cent of the programmes they watch to more convenient viewing times.

"Amongst younger audiences television is having to compete against other media as well, not just different channels but trying to get eyeballs away from Play Stations and the internet," said Mr Highfield.

"The fundamental shift in the music industry and the audio-radio industry to people consuming what they want, how they want, when they want, has given us a pretty clear idea that this is something that's going to happen to video."

He said that putting certain genres of programme, particularly sports events, on the internet presented problems over legal rights but he said the difficulties were not insurmountable. Another anticipated difficulty is the public's fondness of the television set.

"One of the problems is this is a PC delivered solution at the moment and -- do people want to watch video on their PCs?" Highfield said.

The couch culture will change with the increasing availability of media centres that combine a television and computer in a single screen and are already available in 50 per cent of Japanese homes.

"If we were launching this in Japan it would a no-brainer for a lot of the population to download this on their PC and then watch it on their television."

By launching the iMP scheme early, the BBC can ensure that it is not left at the mercy of a software giant like Microsoft, which might be able to control the gateway to online television in the future.

"We have got to take the innovation risk on behalf of the industry. I don't think ITV is anywhere near thinking along these lines. But if we can show that it works, there is demand for it and we can drive open standards then the rest of the industry will want to work with us."

- INDEPENDENT