Possible lockdown of iPlayer

[Narj]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ven-password-protection-and-subscription-fee/

John Whittingdale, the culture secretary, is to order the BBC to put password controls on the iPlayer, paving the way for the introduction of a separate subscription fee for the streaming service.

As a current non-licence-payer, I think this is a great idea and I'll subscribe, as long as they put the whole back catalogue online!

What are the chances of the beeb not cottoning on to this?

 

[Narj]

I would assume all liscenses have a unique identifier or just confirm address. Use that to prove payment.

Last time I had one, I was given a number which I assume is unique. However, I don't see why they can't offer a subscription service as well for those who don't want to watch live broadcast TV.

 

[Narj]

The bit Ill find interesting is if they tie it to an account how many accounts can use it. Ie max of four devices to prevent sharing.

Wonder how they'll work with families with more members or devices. An extra charge?

Now that's tricky seeing as licencing is per household... You'd think they could lock down to several users behind one IP address, but seeing as IPv4 is on its last legs, that falls apart when any ISP is hiding its users behind a pool of IPs!

There is zero way the BBC could legally put it's whole back catalogue on the Iplayer.
They simply don't have the rights to do so.

They have the rights to resell stuff to Netflix (there's a lot of BBC stuff on Netflix US that isn't on UK for example) but couldn't do the same in the UK? I hadn't thought of that angle but I'm surprised if they haven't locked down their rights in the UK. :/

I've got a mate that works for the beeb in production so I'll pester him for his thoughts!

 

[Narj]

I'm not really sure Whittingdale should be continuing with his role before it's been established how many of his strings were being pulled by organisations with a vested interest in seeing the demise of the BBC.

Regardless of whether he's a knobber or not, it's been obvious that the BBC are way behind the curve when it comes to digital content delivery. Finding a new series then seeing that you can't watch the first episode because it expired = RAGE!

Not just that but if someone is using iplayer via a mobile device.

Without knowing the reasoning behind it I can only surmise it would just be an added hassle for legitimate users whilst doing little to dissuade the less legitimate ones.

Good point, too. Maximum streams per account a la Netflix I suppose. Perhaps correlating with geolocation of current streams to ensure they are in the same country.