BBC Readies Universal Receiver for Incompatible IPTV Platforms
LONDON -- U.K. public broadcaster BBC is developing an all-purpose set-top box for viewing online programming on a TV. The technology, code-named Project Canvas, will be offered under license to CE makers and other broadcasters around the world. “The time is right for the next step, and it’s Project Canvas,” said Erik Huggers, BBC director of new media and technology, at U.K. CE industry group Intellect’s Driving Digital Value conference last week. “I see Canvas as democratizing access to TV, much as Apple democratized the palmtop. And not just in British living rooms, but in international homes,” Huggers said.
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The Canvas set-top will sit between a broadband connection and a TV, with intelligent user-interface software in the box that lets a wide variety of otherwise incompatible online programs show on the TV. The motivation to develop a common interface comes from practical issues with the BBC’s iPlayer TV and radio catchup service, Huggers said.
BBC introduced its free iPlayer in late 2007, and it’s a success. There are 16 different DRM-protected streams for the different hardware platforms, Huggers said. “It could end up as a hundred if we don’t create a standard. And people want to watch on a TV. About 20 percent of iPlayer consumption is already through a Virgin TV cable box,” he said. “Canvas is not just about iPlayer,” Huggers said. “It’s also a common misconception that Canvas is all about free programs. It’s not. A key feature is that it will have the ability to support advertising-funded and pay models, with DRM for rental, downloads, VOD and so on,” he said.
The BBC hopes to make a buck on Canvas, Huggers said. “There’s no reason why it should be a U.K.-only venture. More than a dozen broadcasters from around the world have knocked on our door and asked ‘Can we have the iPlayer?’,” he said. “I would love to have the opportunity to work with the CE industry at large, and turn Canvas into a Petri-dish laboratory for the world. We are building not only for the U.K. We think it stands a good chance on the international stage.”
The BBC Trust, the broadcaster’s governing body, must decide whether to give BBC engineers the money for a final design that manufacturers worldwide can build under licence. At issue is whether the public should fund the development. U.K. homes pay a $235 compulsory annual licence fee to support the BBC’s non-commercial over-air broadcasting.
“I don’t see a delay in a decision this year, and see devices in the market in 2010,” Huggers said. “The BBC has 60 miles of archive shelving. We showed the concept to some people in the street, and when one lady saw a list of twenty episodes of her favorite soap she wanted to know where she could buy the box.”
Reminding Huggers that the Canvas box will need an analog output to connect to the very many legacy TVs that will remain in use for the foreseeable future, we asked him how content owners would react to a device that would output an analog signal that’s no longer protected by DRM -- and thus can be permanently captured by readily-available recorders. Huggers first replied that he “did not understand what the problem was” because “most broadcasts are already in the clear,” meaning, freely recordable. “In my opinion, this is the long term way for the industry to go,” he said.
When reminded that he had said Canvas could be used for pay-TV services, Huggers said “of course we are working with the copyright holders. There will be different models, some programs will be in the clear, some protected by DRM. Program providers will have their own models.”
In an earlier conference session, reporters questioned authorities about the government’s “Digital Britain” plan that would give broadband access to all homes (CED June 17 p6). That plan was espoused recently by Stephen Carter, minister for communications, technology and broadcasting.
Asked how he thought the U.K.’s broadband compared with the rest of the world, Carter said it “could be construed as too cheap” because of the fierce competition among rival ISPs. His report put the number of U.K. homes that can’t now get high-speed broadband at 2.75 million, or 11 percent of the total. Satellite specialist Eurosat, which sells the Astra2Connet two-way broadband by satellite system, puts the cost of digging to lay cables at 100 pounds ($165) per meter, and complains that the government prefers digging to installing dishes. But Carter told the conference he remained “optimistic that in reality everyone will have better speeds.”