Apr 12 2008
The BBC ain’t payin! (Or at least I don’t think they should)
I have been listening to the debate between the BBC and British ISPs of late. Last year the BBC introduced an internet TV service called ‘iPlayer’, which serves up popular BBC TV and Radio. This has prompted a firestorm from UK ISPs, whose already groaning broadband network is now under more strain than ever from people streaming content from the BBC, and other Video services.
The recent revelation that UK ISPs are now calling for BBC funds to be provided to offset the estimated 830 million GBP (Source: Ofcom, via BBC) of spending needed to upgrade the UK broadband network has me really pissed off…
I imagine what kind of reaction consumers would get if they asked the BBC for funding to upgrade their TVs to digital. Or the BBC provides HD TV for some channels, but I don’t see anyone asking for BBC funds to upgrade everyone’s TVs to HD. UK ISPs are ripping consumers off left right and centre. If they can’t find the money to upgrade what is a chronically dated system, that pre-BBC iPlayer was *already suffering under excessive load*, then they are not fit to provide internet services. They make stack of money by selling fake unlimited contracts to people, so why haven’t they got he money to invest in upgrading the infrastructure, or is it just the case that they needed a scape goat?
My theory is that *all* media services are putting a heavy load on UK ISP networks. YouTube cannot be ignored for example, it’s become hugely popular in the last 2 years and must put a huge strain on the network, iTunes and their music store selling TV and music over the internet to UK customers can’t help either. That’s just 2 examples, given a few minutes I could think of a lot more I’m sure. The problem afoot here is not that the BBC in particular, although they are undeniably putting a lot of traffic across uK networks, are not the sole source of this problem. The internet is changing, and UK ISPs are lagging behind *yet again*. Video on demand services are more numerously available, and more people are using them than ever. The network needs upgrading and rather than get their heads down and upgrade it like they should be doing, UK ISPs are, yet again (we’ve already seen them try and blame file sharing an piracy), trying to find a scapegoat to prevent them having to get off their fat-cat arses and sort the bloody problem out properly.
Ofcom should simply turn round and tell them to sort it out IMHO. It’s not the BBC’s problem, it’s not the consumer’s problem.
