Re: Nonsense

""It's either DRM or nothing at all."

The statement makes no sense! No other BBC broadcasts use DRM. My home recordings don't "self destruct"."

Makes absolute sense in the context of what iPlayer's legal status is.

It is NOT a broadcast facility.

By law you can freely watch 'broadcasts' over the air without DRM and you have a limited right to "time-shift" (though I believe you're not intended to keep recordings forever though it's not enforceable).

By law downloads over the Internet are NOT broadcasts. They are not covered by broadcast laws, they are covered by copyright and usage licences. The very same laws in fact as buying a DVD. You don't have a right to a DVD for free after all do you? ;-) (in fact there have been proposals in the past for a kind of self destructing rental DVD).

To offer anything for download is then not covered by the BBC's normal broadcaster rights. Downloads have to instead be licenced and the rights holders can insist what they like.

Fact is they insist that to allow these downloads for free they need to be DRM'd and restricted to 7 days to give it an equivalent status to broadcast TV and typical time-shifting.

Complain all you like, but the BBC have no choice. Thus it is DRM or nothing.

And to say it again. The iPlayer is NOT a broadcast facility. Your licence fee doesn't entitle you to download ANYTHING from the BBC for free.

Unlike laws change to grant broadcast status to Internet TV then this is the way it will remain.

Getting theBeeb abroad

Have seen the size of the satellite dishes planted in the gardens of ex-pat Brits in the Canaries? They can watch Spendies and the rest to their heart's content. The only fly in the ointment is getting hold of the Radio Times before the stuff goes out!

RE: Craig Collier

"you say everyone is free to get these services, but you have to pay a company like Samsung or Sony to get a TV in the first plac,e"

Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I'm aware the TV market is not a monopoly.

There is competition which keeps costs down.

TV signals are a standard and are as such able to be received and interpreted by differing companies.

Buying a computer isn't a monopoly, nor is it free. If I want to run Linux I still have to buy hardware.

But I do have choices about how I buy my computer or parts from and of what make they are (just like you Sony/Samsung example)

Its a different matter if Samsung were the only company that could make TVs, not unlike the situation we have here.

Once you have a monopoly over something, such as M$ has here, that can be exploited (well...the users can be exploited, but given that they sure as hell dont give a damn about them, all is well).