End of the BBC vodcast trial
The BBC vodcast trial is coming to an end. Newsnight, Breakfast, the Ten O’Clock News and STORYFix will no longer be available to download as a file - for now.
I love audio podcasts and have been downloading them for a few years, but only recently have started to get into video podcasts (or “vodcasts”). Some traditional media outlets seem more at ease with them than others, but that they’re being produced on a daily or weekly basis is more than encouraging.
The BBC has been doing them as a trial for a little while and they’ve been very good, in my opinion. At 10.30pm the last thing I’m ready to consume is a news programme and the ability to download highlights and watch them on my terms - i.e. on VLC Media Player, under Ubuntu Linux, at 8.45pm on Saturday without an internet connection - felt not so much liberating, but almost exciting as a feel of the future of this sort of content.
Watching Newsnight vodcast on Ubuntu Linux
I’ve watched Newsnight, Click and other BBC News content on a variety of computers, ISPs and speeds over the last year or two and often recall the video clip having either large artifacts, a garbled section of audio or most annoyingly, some buffering. For me, video podcasts just feel right.
It’s a shame that the trial has to end, although I quite accept the reasons for doing a trial and the need to evaluate costs and impact. Considering that even the more reluctant providers have started video podcasts, that BBC content always rates highly on the iTunes chart and a relationship and following had started to build for these downloads, it seems odd to cut everyone off. I rarely watch Newsnight live, but when I do it’s from start to end. I love the reports and the interviews, and now that it’s been made available like this I want more.
I know it’s available to stream online, and the week on Newsnight is on BBC News 24 at 0.30am on Saturday, but personally neither of those are really convenient or comfortable places to enjoy the programme.
Mark Barlex is the on demand editor at BBC News, and in a post on the Editors Blog titled File not found has described the end of the trial. It sounds like some podcasts didn’t do as well as others. Simon Dickson sums it up when he says “downbeat”.
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The issue of podcasting - I can see the BBC leaving that behind. It’s an issue of radio vs video, and video will always win. But the new iPlayer offering means that the BBC will have a very focused tool for offering program downloads and similar - so I would expect them to much into cementing this service, and moving other media offerings into this. 2c.
Comment by Brian Turner — July 30, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
I think the BBC have, once again, failed to ‘get it’ about how people want to watch tv and listen to audio these days.
I’d been listening to the Newsnight podcast (non video) on my monday morning commutes. It’s the convenience for the listener/viewer - because there’s a lot competing for our time - that needs to be utmost. iPlayer fails on practically every count, as does the streaming for the reasons you cite.
Admittedly, in the case of a weekly summary of Newsnight, there would have been a lot of work involved in editing rather than just repackaging the existing transmissions.
I’ll remain a happy listener of Newspod, until they kill that at least.
(and, in another example of not getting it - the ending of the Newsnight podcasts is the last entry in the Newsnight editor’s blog, and already comments are disabled. Oh well.)
Comment by James Grinter — August 3, 2007 @ 8:20 am
The BBC is in a difficult position of on the one hand, being entirely accountable for everything they do, while still trying to push on innovative technical fronts. With all the pressure from the government across public services to provide “value for money” it’s frankly surprising that the BBC have been able to create room to try different media techniques, no matter how niche. But at the end of the day, the bean counters will always be watching over their backs. Still, at least, they had a try.
Comment by Investment Markets — August 9, 2007 @ 10:36 pm
[…] time for online content. When ABC and CNN are moving forward, it still seems strange that the BBC would move […]
Pingback by James Burrage at WebKanix » New look for Guardian’s Organ Grinder; Video Content on Telegraph site — September 11, 2007 @ 7:16 pm