Photo: Neil Boothman / Flickr

The BBC has revealed that it plans to use the iPlayer in conjunction with television broadcasts so that as much of the Olympics as possible is covered. The broadcaster has said that with the thousands of hours of footage over the games, there’ll be certain events that won’t be televised at all, but will make their way to the iPlayer for viewing from your PC, TV and supported mobile devices.

Daniel Danker

BBC’s general manger of future media and technology, Daniel Danker, revealed the 2012 Olympic iPlayer plans when he was speaking at Samsung’s European Forum, held in Budapest. He prefaced the iPlayer plans, saying: ‘the world of applications gets exciting when you combine them with TV.’

He continued, saying: ‘The 2012 Olympics will mean that we will have more content available than we can broadcast. So, the combination of on demand and TV is the only way we will be able to get all the content to consumers’.

Leave no one out

This means those of you who love fringe Olympic Sports like bowls and archery won’t be left out. You’ll get to see all your content on your iPlayer. Danker realises this, saying that 2012 Olympics iPlayer hookup will allow folks to control their own Olympic viewing experience.

A few relevant thoughts

Considering Daniel Danker was speaking at a Samsung event, it should come as no surprise that he referenced the technology – televisions – that the broadcaster relies on to reach consumers. He says that the broadcaster is exciting about new-age television, saying: ‘Smart TV is a liberating platform and we are now building to HTML, so we can express our programmes in new ways’. He further noted that: ‘This brings together the iPlayer and TV which is liberating’.

We’re excited about the 2012 Olympics iPlayer strategy the BBC is pursuing. What’s the value in building such a brilliant platform if you are not going to leverage it, and clearly this is the attitude the BBC itself shares.

Photo: BBC

Everybody’s favourite TV catch-up service, BBC iPlayer, is on its way to even more mobile devices. The broadcaster just confirmed in a blog post that the iPlayer would be available for the iPad and Android 2.2 soon.

Soon, soon

BBC’s Daniel Danker wrote a blog post finally addressing the murmurings about the BBC iPlayer’s mobile strategy. He says ‘Having stuck our toe in the water last year with the iPad, this new native app is a significant improvement on the existing experience. And it’s great to be on the Android platform too.’

Speaking to how soon we can expect the apps on each of the devices, Danker says: ‘We’re just applying the finishing touches to the apps as we speak, and all things being well we plan to have Android and iPad apps in [app] stores by the end of the week.’ Great news then for the many fans of the streaming TV service that happen to have mobile devices.

iPad uniformity, Android hobbled

However, with the good news comes some bad – as can no doubt be expected. While the iPad will see one native app released that functions on all of Apple’s tablet PCs, the Android strategy is a little different. Much like only Android 2.2 devices could use the iPlayer in browser form, only Android 2.2 devices will be able to play the application natively.

While the snarky will immediately cry out Android fragmentation, Danker says ‘for technical reasons we can’t bring the app to every single Android device’. He continued, saying ‘Our Flash streams need a powerful mobile phone processor and a Wi-Fi connection to ensure a smooth viewing experience, which means that only newer, more powerful Android 2.2 devices connected via Wi-Fi can support the Flash 10.1 streaming experience.’

While that’s a bummer for many earlier Android adopters, it is what it is. Ultimately what matters most is the BBC iPlayer mobile strategy is working, and the broadcaster clearly has plans to bring the streaming TV service to as many platforms as possible.

Photo: BBC

The BBC has announced plans to broadcast its radio stations in HD. Beginning in December this year, BBC’s Radio 3, as well selected special events, will be available in HD sound from the BBC website. BBC Radio 2 will begin its HD broadcasting with the show Electric Proms, later this month.

Technical improvements

Higher bit rates and improved encoding are going to provide the highest audio quality in the history of BBC broadcasting. With HD sound’s wider dynamic range, the difference between loud and quiet sounds will become more noticeable.

Those using small or low quality speakers built into a laptop may not notice a great improvement in the audio quality. However, listeners using a superior sound system or high quality headphones will immediately notice an improvement, especially when it comes to extra clarity and detail in the audio. HD sound will initially only be available online, so listeners will have to improve their audio specifications in order to really appreciate what all the fuss is about. The BBC also has plans to bring HD Sound to the iPlayer, as well as the online Radioplayer.

Trial period for Proms

Director of BBC Audio and Music, Tim Davie, is beaming: ‘HD Sound is an exciting development and a signal of our commitment to innovate in digital radio for the benefit of our listeners.’

Following a successful trial of the new audio technology during the BBC Proms, UK users will have access to HD sound for good. The trial also resulted in an increase in quality for the iPlayer stream, to be used for Radio 3.

Controller, Radio 3 and director of BBC Proms, Roger Wright, said: ‘Online listeners to Radio 3 were able to enjoy the final week of this year’s BBC Proms in extra high quality audio and I’m thrilled that we can now offer this streaming permanently across our full schedule.’

Photo: Microsoft

The rumours that web video service Hulu is going to arrive on the Xbox 360 and the iPad have hit boiling point, with the hugely reputable Reuters reporting it has reliable sources who have confirmed so. In addition to Hulu’s arrival on other devices, the service will also start charging a subscription fee. Don’t be too alarmed about that, though. It’s not as bad as you may think.

On devices by August

Reuters says that two sources have revealed that Hulu will be rolled out to ‘multiple devices’ in the coming months. Hmm, the iPad and the Xbox 360 streaming media platform would fill the ‘devices’ gap well, would you not say? And the Reuters article would agree, with the iPad and Xbox 360 being the only such ‘devices’ explicitly named.

Subscription service

Photo: Apple

The other news – that previously had heavy Hulu users a little uneasy – that Reuters claim their sources mentioned is the much-talked about Hulu subscription. The thrifty among us – which is everyone, we hope – can rest easy in the knowledge that subscription would apply only to older TV show episodes. Recent shows will still be free.

Let our BBC iPlayer on!

Microsoft has done a fantastic job of convincing content providers to hop on the Xbox 360 streaming media platform. If Hulu 360 happens, it joins Netflix and Sky as content providers outside of Microsoft’s own Live service on the 360. But what gets us worked up is the lack of love for the absolutely spectacular BBC iPlayer, especially with the service publicly stating its desire to be part of the Xbox 360 streaming media bouquet. One imagines Sky has a lot to do with it, but still, can’t we all just get along?
Do any of you use your Xbox 360 or newly-purchased Apple tablet to watch streaming shows? How’s your general experience been and does this Hulu news excite you at all?

Photo: BlackBerry

As if the distractions mobile technology has brought with it aren’t bad enough, Blackberry owners – the people responsible for keeping business and corporations humming – are now able to stream the BBC iPlayer on their mobile phone via a webpage.

As you would expect

Photo: BlackBerry

The service streams on-demand video in the BBC iPlayer’s catalogue from a webpage that’s compatible with the Blackberry. This does not come without limitations, though. Firstly, the service is exclusively wi-fi based, which means getting BBC iPlayer through 3G is not possible. The second thing that is more a requirement than a limitation is that the base Blackberry OS will support this in version 4.2, all the way through to version 5.

Turmoil

The iPlayer on Blackberry is one positive revelation in light of a period of turmoil for the BBC. A leaked document pertaining to the organization’s long-term strategy indicates that 25% of the BBC website staff will lose their jobs in light of the website being downsized by a full 50%. Furthermore, to the ire of users of social media, BBC’s 6 Music will also be abandoned by the organisation.

Photo: BlackBerry

The reasons cited for this admittedly disappointing revelation are cost cutting measures as well as the appeasement of a potentially conservative government who want to see the BBC competing less with privately owned media corporations. This has been met with fury, disappointment and much debate. While the reasons for doing this are very easy to understand, people wonder if the BBC is not giving too much rope to private corporations who should, like in all business environments, fend for themselves.

An even better experience

Blackberry, which has long been positioned (and purchased) as the phone for business people, will now have one more tool at their disposal to distract its client base from doing what business people do: work.