BBC Hopes To Resume 3G Broadcasts, Trial Take-Up Was Tiny
The BBC Trust is inviting opinions on the BBC’s proposal to resume broadcasting to 3G mobile handsets, following the completion of a 12-month trial in April. The BBC had simulcast BBC One, BBC Three, News 24 TV channels plus Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4, 6Music, BBC 7, Asian Network and 1Xtra to subscribers of mobile TV packages operated by Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), Orange, 3UK and T-mobile. But take-up was tiny, the proposal revealed, peaking at just 580 views in June 2007 and just 13 minutes per month.
Now it wants permission to fully add mobile to its distribution channels, saying in the proposal: “The BBC’s broadcast competitors are already present on mobile TV and there is some evidence of customer confusion over the absence of BBC channels.” But this is purely simulcast, no custom job: “Whilst some content may be ‘re-purposed’ so that it is appropriate for consumption via 3G mobile devices, BBC management does not intend to create new ‘made-for-mobile’ content.”
One dichotomy to overcome - the BBC charter dictates its services must be free to UK consumers, but mobile TV packages are costly, between £3 and £10 a month. So the BBC wants operators to includes its streams in their lowest-cost packages… not exactly free, just cheap. The BBC refused to reveal the cost of the plan.
The BBC Trust wants to hear opinions on the proposal so it can conclude whether to apply its long-winded public value test, which would check both against the plan’s public purpose remit and its likelihood of damaging the commercial sector; but it’s likely to pass on both counts as this simulcast plan is basically just TV pumped to a different device
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@robertandrews
Jul 25, 2008 6:57 AM ET
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