Full length BBC shows to go on YouTube: Non-Americans need not apply
Whenever you hear about a big corporation getting involved with YouTube the standard responses seems to be to shaking ones head. Next you’ll hear people loudly decry the vile world of piracy and illegal uploads, whilst not offering any helpful solutions.
The latest announcement though provides a more positive spin on collaborative ventures as the Beeb announce they’ll be expanding their BBC Worldwide YouTube account with extra videos, and will offer US based viewers full length episodes of some of the more popular shows.
This could be very interesting as presently people who choose to view BBC content online tend to use the iPlayer, which acts as a ‘catch up’ service. However the iPlayer doesn’t offer a back catalogue of favourite shows; whilst the new YouTube channel will.
But how do they plan to cover the cost of making full length videos available on YouTube, and why is this open to US ISP users only? To offer this service they’re going to be tied into certain US-centric based advertising schemes to cover the costs, which is why the UK are excluded from the launch.
Whilst I think it’s great that our US mates can again access to our programming, the fact that we’re excluded from it is frustrating. Will we have to access UK content via the US site through a proxy server? It could all get very confusing, Then again, with Hulu promising a UK launch sometime soon, the way we view all videos online could start to change dramatically.
BBC Worldwide
*Note: I’ve just spoken to the BBC and they’d like to clarify that so far they’re only releasing 5 full length ‘niche’ shows onto the YouTube player in the States, such as The Life of Birds, which they say will appeal to a niche market and is part of them extending their commercial arm overseas.
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