This story from the UK’s Independent reinforces our notion that the BBC is totally convergence-tastic:
The future of television is almost upon us: the day when we spend our train or bus journey to work catching up on the shows we missed the night, or even several days, before.Yeah, we don’t know what that funny dollar sign means, either. It’s probably supposed to be seventy convergence-bucks (clearly, the currency of the future).
Later this month, the BBC will launch a pilot project that could lead to all television programmes being made available on the internet. Viewers will be able to scan an online guide and download any show. Programmes would be viewed on a computer screen or could be burned to a DVD and watched on a television set. Alternatively, programmes could be downloaded to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a hand-held computer that is becoming increasingly popular in Britain and sells from about £70.
Ashley Highfield, the BBC’s director of new media and technology, seems to be on the ball:
“Amongst younger audiences television is having to compete against other media as well, not just different channels but trying to get eyeballs away from PlayStations and the internet,” Mr Highfield said. “The fundamental shift in the music industry and the audio-radio industry to people consuming what they want, how they want, when they want, has given us a pretty clear idea that this is something that’s going to happen to video.”“…people consuming what they want, how they want, when they want,” he says — and that seems to be at the crux of so much these days. Maybe we really ought to be the Consumer Choice Chaser?
For more on the BBC’s video-on-demand scheme, check out Rafat Ali’s archive of BBC items.