Filed under: Audio, Multimedia, Video, Internet Tools
BBC does the right thing: will support Macs with iPlayer
A while back we posted about a bit of an uproar that arose when it seemed that the BBC was going to roll out a Windows-only online TV offering. Well the BBC suits have apparently responded to numerous complaints and today they announced that their "iPlayer [service] will be re-engineered to work with Macs." Of course they couldn't do this without a little bit of snarkiness, with BBC New Media boss Ashley Highfield saying that Apple's "proprietary and closed framework for digital rights management gives us headaches [but] it is one of our top priorities to re-engineer our proposed BBC iPlayer service to work on Macs." Further, it will still be on Windows first, with Mac support only coming later. Nonetheless, UK Mac users should count themselves lucky, and kudos to the BBC for at least allowing themselves to be pressured into doing the right thing.Thanks to Chris and everyone else who sent this in!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Matthew said 2:55PM on 4-18-2007
I read about this earlier, I'm glad the BBC has decided to make it for Macs as well. Hopefully Channel 4 will follow suit with 4OD at some point soon, which has just become free. I think five is also planning an ondemand thing as well. Do American networks provide free catchup type services like the iPlayer and 4OD? Or is it only iTunes and other pay things, where you get it forever? Of course the problem with these free ones is that I can't imagine any of the major broadcasters will be putting TV programmes on iTunes anytime soon, and if they did, who nobody would buy them. And while I was at it I signed up for the BBC Archive trial, which looks pretty cool.
Reply
Jon said 2:59PM on 4-18-2007
I really wish they'd re-engineer the BBC News video section for Macs as well (will iPlayer replace this?). If you really really really want to watch a video, you have to go to the source of the page and copy+paste the link to the movie into Quicktime. And then it kind of plays.
I really hate the BBC's continual use of RealPlayer. I don't know much about the codec, but I know that the software itself is awful.
Reply
John Ellenich said 3:01PM on 4-18-2007
I think NBC offers the best "online" viewing solution currently in the US. Their player works perfectly on the mac and looks pretty good when my macbook is hooked up to my 32" HDTV...
Their ads are getting pretty creative too- I watched Lost last night and Fidelity's interactive ads worked really well!
Reply
marcos said 3:10PM on 4-18-2007
Apple's "proprietary and closed framework for digital rights management
Maybe I'm a bit dense, but isn't the whole idea behind DRM to protect proprietary material behind a "closed framework"? Is WM not proprietary? If they want an open and free solution, shouldn't they be looking at GNU/DRM? (snark) I'm thinking that the Beeb's IT department is stuck in the 90s if they're putting up such a fuss.
Reply
Skoalbandit said 3:10PM on 4-18-2007
In this day an age all you should need is a web browser to view online video. The WMP, Quicktime, Realplayer opitions should be all dead.
Reply
Francis said 3:29PM on 4-18-2007
Soo the BBC would have to create a DRM option that will work on Macs and PCs?
Cross platform DRM, what ever next!?
Reply
Matt said 3:30PM on 4-18-2007
The BBC had always said that they intended to make the iPlayer 'platform agnostic' and they're all a bunch of mac using hippies anyway (tongue -> cheek), so it makes perfect sense.
I'm disappointed by Channel 4's approach with 4OD because a) they are part public funded, and as such should be more 'for the people' and b) they've got some really good shows on at stupid times. What percentage of the target demographic for the brilliant Peep Show are otherwise engaged at 10pm on a Friday night?
What can be said with certainty is that the future of broadcasting here in the UK is definitely looking exciting, even for us Mac users. Three cheers for the Licence Fee!
Matt - (Still waiting in vain for a 12" mbp)
Reply
Owain said 3:33PM on 4-18-2007
I'll start getting interested when Sky Anytime is Mac-compatible. Another one of those companies that uses an MBP in their adverts for incompatible products.
Reply
Mr Lizard said 3:38PM on 4-18-2007
@2: I've never had any problems using the news player on OS X. Do you have Real Player installed? You can also use WMV, which Quicktime plays fine with Flip4Mac installed
Reply
Jonathan said 3:41PM on 4-18-2007
well, if they wanna call their product "iPlayer" it would only be fair that they also make if available for Macs.
But when you watch Spooks and how many Macs they use in there, it's probably safe to say that there are enough of them at Portland Place
Reply
Matthew said 3:45PM on 4-18-2007
Matt, Channel 4 isn't public funded at all, it gets all its money from advertising. It does have a public service remit, and is publicly owned, but it gets no license fee money, or from any other publicly funded source.
Reply
Ben Poole said 4:10PM on 4-18-2007
Kudos to the BBC... I guess. They're providing a public service that we pay for. This means they should not have even been considering a Windows-only service. In fact, just catering to Macs and Windows still falls a little short. As for Ashley Highfield: alas, the chap is known for being a classic example of "right place, right time."
http://theobvious.typepad.com/blog/2006/07/tom_coates_on_a.html
Reply
Carlos Fonseca said 4:22PM on 4-18-2007
I'm super excited and appreciative about this player. I'm really hoping to get some bbc shows as soon as they become available. I hope they have a good selection.
~C
Reply
K said 4:30PM on 4-18-2007
The question which should be asked at this point is, why are they even considering adding DRM?
This whole debacle could have been avoided if they asked themselves about the necessity of it and their aims at the start. It's supposed to be an open public archive, and yet they're crippling it with restrictions that mean it will only play on devices which have their player, and I seem to remember something about the content expiring after 7 days. How 1996.
In 10 years time this will be forgotten, like the many other projects they've launched and then scuppered (see blog above for a list). The BBC is in a perfect position to really push forward online publishing, and instead we get this.
Reply
Stuart said 6:49PM on 4-18-2007
The beeb are always a million years behind. It's rather snidey to say that Apple is closed, it's not more closed than friggin' Microsoft.
Reply
Leonard Nimrod said 8:42PM on 4-18-2007
I don't see how they will be able to make a Mac version if they plan on keeping with the same schema they use with iPlayer for Windows.
The main reason the software was only for Windows is due to the use of WIMP10/11s DRM capabilities. This makes the use of the Flip4Mac codec in Quicktime for Windows Media playback impossible.
BBC will have to use a different codec, obviously, but will they? The reason content providers like to use WMP10/11 is for the expiration date on DRM content. This just isn't available on OS X. And for good reason!
The way I see it, the BBC only has 3 real options:
1) Tell everyone you are working on Mac support but drag it out for a couple years and then say you just couldn't get it working. By then they'll hopefully be a simpler or OS agnostic resolution.
2) Keep using Real Media for the Mac side.
3) Use Flash as a container.
Reply
Pete White said 6:25AM on 4-19-2007
Channel 4 is partly funded by the government and they get huge reductions in licensing fees compared to ITV.
My main problem with 4OD is that it still thinks i'm not in the UK so wont let me download anything.
Reply
Kyle said 6:26AM on 4-19-2007
Leonard Nimrod: They don't have to use Flash, I fully expect this cross platform solution to use some form of web-based app with Microsoft's new framework that allows playback of DRM Windows Media content on Macs and Windows. Since OS X has Apache built in, it wouldn't be too hard to make a local symlink or something to load the plugin and then use the Webkit engine to show the content.
Reply
Kris Jones said 7:27AM on 4-19-2007
"...and kudos to the BBC for at least allowing themselves to be pressured into doing the right thing."
I'm reluctant to give the BBC any kudos. As an organisation that is funded through an hypothecated poll tax on any household with television receiving equipment, the situation where Mac users (and even users of other OSs), were left out should never have arisen in the first place.
Although Matthew at (11) is correct to say Channel 4 earns its revenue from advertising, it still receives a public subsidy in that it doesn't have to pay commercial rates for its use of terrestrial spectrum (though it does have to pay transmission costs), and nor does it have to pay cable carriage. Given Channel 4's whole ethos, it is a shame they are not actively exploring how to make 4OD available on Macs.
Reply
Mr Lizard said 1:15PM on 4-19-2007
The content is funded by the british public, so I wonder how they are going to restrict the viewing of the content to just us brits?
Reply