I owe so many thoughts to this blog it isn’t funny! But to ease the pain– it can’t be simple, after all, for you lot to have gone several months without my words of wisdom– here’s a link to this week’s Brewster Rockitt comic strip. Not everyone has made Brewster’s acquaintance (afaik he runs just in LA and Chicago), which is a pity ’cause it’s the geekiest strip to run in major newspapers.
In any case, this week is all about the TARDIS. Go check it out!
(The link is to Monday’s comic– it will go the whole week, so make sure you click on the appropriate amount of “next day” to see it all.)
Posted by JennAK as Pop That Culture at 3:25 pm
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So, the Beeb has banned non-UKers from viewing official BBC content on YouGoogleTube, escalating a disturbing trend. Last fall, the Beeb banned non-UK viewers from viewing both the Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures websites, claiming charter concerns. It’s only a matter of time (I daresay, March 30 at the latest) before non-UKers are forbidden to see the content on the Doctor Who site itself.
Since when have they been so gung-ho about their charter? Has it been changed recently? (Not that I can tell, but I might be using the wrong Google keywords.) For years, the Beeb joyously offered everyone photos, games, audio samples, and video clips from both classic and current series. People from all over the world utilised the first “w” to check out distinctly BBC product and totally grooved on it. Now, though, you have to be British to play.
Surely this policy is shooting BBC Worldwide in the foot. How can they create buzz without having a fully-accessible website to promote their offerings? No buzz, no foreign sales.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time that the BBC has worked hard to lose profits. You don’t have to look any further than the amount of time it took to sell the current series to an American network. Conventional wisdom has it that it was all about price– that BBC Worldwide was trying to charge for the show like it was the #1 American hit show, when at best the series has never been more than a cult fave in this country.
Nevertheless, I am still disturbed by this cutting off of access. It’s not just the Beeb dicking Doctor Who fans around here, it’s a symptom of a more pervasive disease– the need to control. In the U.S., there’s frequently talk about how the big ISPs (Comcast, AT & T, etc.) want to charge premiums for passing through their servers as you surf the web– i.e., the more you pay, the faster you can surf. Also, the faster your site will load for people. Hella good way to make $$$$ off of ebay, amazon, etc., and really awful for mom-and-pop commerce sites. (Or for the personal sites, too.)
I am tempted to say that the kind of regulation going down (or trying to go down) is purely a result of the Current Administration, but deep down I realise that the Democrats would be just as greedy. It does come down to money.
And in the Beeb’s case, “coming down to money” translates as “being anal about who can view content based on who pays licensing fees.” Perhaps also a matter of time? The Beeb requiring one to log on with their licensing fee account before you can view content. *sigh*
Although, Beeb? Anytime you want to sell international liscences for full access to your website including, say, downloads of new episodes, you let me know!
Posted by JennAK as Ongoing Storm, Pop That Culture at 2:37 pm
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The BBC announced yesterday that they’ve slept with partnered with YouGoogleTube in order to further publicize their offerings worldwide. All things considered, I’m not too surprised this partnership formed. The Beeb used YouGoogleTube’s viral marketing capabilities to create extra buzz for the premiere of Torchwood this past fall, after all. It was only natural that the Beeb go one step further and provide official promotional material. A number of U.S. networks and hundreds of musical artists also provide official promotional to the website.
What I found interesting was this little tidbit off the BBC news coverage of the deal:
Mr Highfield said the BBC would not be hunting down all BBC-copyrighted clips already uploaded by YouTube members – although it would reserve the right to swap poor quality clips with the real thing, or to have content removed that infringed other people’s copyright, like sport, or that had been edited or altered in a way that would damage the BBC’s brand.
“We don’t want to be overzealous, a lot of the material on YouTube is good promotional content for us,” he said.
This statement has caused a lot of argument already, mostly of the “why can’t we post YouGoogleTube links to unauthorised material if the BBC doesn’t give a crap if the material is unauthorised” variety. I’m not going to get into that one here; have to put up enough with it elsewhere.
Instead, here’s what I’m pondering:
- Is the desire for free (legality honored or not) material something that’s unique to the current Young Geek Generation (i.e. 13-30ish), or is it something that’s Always Been, but just more noticeable now that more people can do it?
- Why is it that the older one gets, the more supporting of corporate media happens? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by JennAK as Pop That Culture, Time and Tides at 6:13 pm
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