For the past year the BBC Trust have been in talks with rival broadcasters ITV, Channel 4, and Five along with ISPs BT and TalkTalk about an Internet based delivery method for television content so that they can be utilised on set-top boxes. This initiative to produce such a standard between them is called "Project Canvas".
We believe Canvas could be an important part of the way in which the BBC delivers its services in the future," said Diane Coyle, chair of the Trust's Strategic Approvals Committee.
I believe that a standard way for UK broadcasters to provide content on-demand would be immensely beneficial and would change how people view television. The standard would require some form of being able to include advertisements that must be watched in order for independent television broadcasters to maintain revenue should the majority of users switch to on-demand television using the likes of iPlayer and itvPlayer built into their set-top boxes. Of course though it would also need to accommodate the need for no advertisements as well due to British TV licensing already going towards the BBC meaning that in the UK they cannot charge for their channels or include commercial advertisements.
It's not yet set in stone as the project is currently open as a consultation until February (which it had previously been earlier in the year also), after which time the specification will be published in advance of it's release to consumers to give hardware manufacturers time to include it in their latest devices. It has also been enforced that it must be open to other content providers and should contain parental controls due to the age restrictions so that some programming has.
What the BBC foresees as a problem though is the possible impact this may have on both DVD rental, and the pay-for-TV market. Broadcasters such as BSkyB and Virgin Media have openly criticised the proposal, most likely due to the detrimental effect it will have on their own businesses. One thing worthy of note is that BSkyB do have their own Sky Player service which requires you to have a Sky subscription and either Sky Broadband or Sky Multi-room. Which means they effectively require two paid-for services before they will allow you to use their on-demand service. In addition to this they are also increasing the price of Sky Broadband for all users unless they switch their telephones to Sky as well - which is in all honesty nothing short of blackmailing their customers. If broadcasting businesses are worried that an on-demand service for free-to-air channels would harm their business then they need to rethink how they do their business.
The point is that an on-demand service means that the public can watch TV they have missed when they want - they don't have to worry about recording it. Moving forward like this is similar to how TV on-demand services have moved into the world of console gaming with the iPlayer channel on the Wii, and the Sky Player on the Xbox 360. The next step is to move forward into the mobile market to make on-demand television available to iPhone users. There has been talk of iPlayer being added for XBox 360 users however it is currently a requirement by Microsoft that it is only available to Live subscribers which goes against BBC's remit, meaning it cannot yet be added.
Hopefully this project moves forward as it's making the future of television more exciting, and more available (when you want it).
