© BBC
It has been confirmed today by Mark Thompson that BBC programmes will be available in a new paid download store shortly after airing. The store, code named Project Barcelona will operate as an iTunes-style store, working in conjunction with the BBC iplayer, giving users an additional option to pay and “own” new and old programmes.
Currently, the BBC iPlayer works on a seven day window meaning that once a programme has been uploaded for you to watch, after seven days, it will expire, users also have the opportunity to download the programme to their computer, however, there’s only a 30 day turnaround for this also, so after 30 days the programme will expire. The idea of Project Barcelona is that once a programme has aired on the BBC, it will be uploaded to the store and a user will then have the opportunity to download that programme and keep it for as long as they wish, but for a small fee. The programme’s will also be uploaded to the iPlayer, but will expire after seven days as usual.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society, Thomspon said: “BBC iPlayer is the most successful and most intensively used catch-up service in the world but it’s true that, after that seven-day public service window, a large proportion of what the BBC makes and broadcast is never seen or heard of again.
“On television, despite all of our existing forms of public service archival and commercial windowing, the overwhelming majority of what the BBC commissions and broadcasts becomes unavailable when that iPlayer window expires.
“We want to change that and have started to talk to our partners, including the independent sector and PACT, about a proposal which we will formally submit to the BBC Trust later this year which – for reasons which escape me – we call Project Barcelona.
“The idea behind Barcelona is simple. It is that, for as much of our content as possible, in addition to the existing BBC iPlayer window, another download-to-own window would open soon after transmission – so that if you wanted to purchase a digital copy of a programme to own and keep, you could pay what would generally be a relatively modest charge for doing so.”
Thompson also addressed concerns that the BBC was seeking to double charge licence fee payers for content by drawing parallels between digital downloads and purchasing physical media in shops.
He explained: “This is not a second license fee by stealth or any reduction in the current public service offering from the BBC – it’s the exact analogy of going into a high street shop to buy a DVD or, before that, a VHS cassette.
“For decades the British Public has understood the distinction between watching Dad’s Army on BBC One and then going out to buy a permanent copy of it. Barcelona is the digital equivalent of doing the second.”
Even though plans for the store have been confirmed, the project is dependant on BBC obtaining agreement from programme production companies and the BBC Trust.
