The British aren't coming ... they're here!  The BBC will move a step closer to delivering what it calls "iTunes for the broadcast industry" later this year, launching a public trial of iMP, which allows viewers to download any show from the previous week that they may have missed.

Some of us call this a PVR, but this feature set actually let's you go back and get something you have forgotten to record.  Humm ... that sounds like VOD.  Well, now that you mention it ... it is VOD.  Read the article, then decide.  In any event, we won't be doing it here in the States until about a zillion business rules get worked out.

Comments

[Lydia Loizides]

I agree on the business rules but what should also be asked is ... so what? What we are really talking about it what has been happening here in the US in the form of MovieLink, Yahoo! Platinum, Rhapsody and other pay-for services for a couple of years. So the interface is different. Next? My question is this: if residents in the UK already pay a fee to watch the BBC in the form of an annual license that is used to create content and sustain the BBC itself, will they want to pay for it again in piecemeal fashion just because they get the privilege of watching it on their PC? The article states that, "Initially, the service will feature programmes from all the BBC's television and radio services but it is also in talks with other broadcasters about making the iMP a gateway to other channels." To quote a great man ;-) I am not sure this will be an emotionally satisfying experience to the consumer in the near term – aesthetically or financially.