MP3

RSS

NEWS: ISPs up in arms over extra network costs of BBC iPlayer

Andy Clough 09 April 2008 10:05

Bbc Iplayer-1
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the BBC are locked in a row about who should pay for extra network costs incurred by the popular iPlayer service.

The ISPs say the BBC's on-demand TV service is putting strain on their networks, which need upgrading to cope.

Simon Gunter, from ISP Tiscali, says the BBC does not understand the issues involved and should contribute to the extra costs involved.

But Ashley Highfield, head of future media and technology at the BBC, says he believes the cost of the network upgrades should be carried by the ISPs.

The BBC claims one million people downloaded more than 3.5 million programmes during the first month of iPlayer's launch. According to industry regulator Ofcom, it will costs ISPs in the region of £830m to pay for the extra capacity needed to allow for services like the iPlayer.

Technorati Tags: BBC iPlayer, internet service providers, Ofcom, Tiscali

Comments

jules153 April 9, 2008 10:30

Looks like it's the ISPs fault. If they offer customers un-capped monthly download limits then the customer actually decides to use the bandwidth they've paid for..... DOUGH!

Andrew Everard April 9, 2008 11:46

They've paid for dough?

Eddiewood April 9, 2008 13:27

As ISPs rely on lots of light email/browser users sharing the same central, they have suddenly been hit with huge demand from these people that have never downloaded anything bigger than the odd image before.

It is the ISPs fault for not predicting increased usage and getting extra bandwidth on-line to cope.

People go on about Blu-ray being replaced with downloaded films yet here is a big ISP saying that they can't even cope with the iPlayer. Pathetic!

DLeslie April 9, 2008 14:11

I'm sorry - but I have ZERO sympathy for the ISP's on this one although Ofcom should never have allowed BBC to proceed with the Iplayer under current infrastructure conditions. Internet Service Providers - particular those who share initials with the phrase 'Ballsup Terriblus' are reaping what they sew. For too long, providers have been charging maximum tariff while continuiously failing to invest sensibly into the national communication infrastructure. Rather than route profits to upgrading Britain's internet backbone to realistic performance levels, the fat cats have squandered their funds into giant paychecks and pointless endeavours such as television over IP. The government also shares considerable blame in this as having an Internet infrastructure that *at least* parallels the western world is in the national interest.

If ISP's don't like the new reality of rich media bandwidth, perhaps it's time they sack their advisors for failing to identify a very predictable future.

Alsone April 9, 2008 14:34

If there ever was a sign that Britain should be following France's lead and going optical this is it.

Sod it being too expensive. If the French can afford it why can't the British? Or is it just that in Socialist France, huge profits aren't as big a priority as customer service.

Tropi April 13, 2008 14:10

Here is even less than ZERO sympathy for cretinous, devious, manipulative ISPs.

The function of BBC and other TV companies is to produce content.

The function of consumers, is to watch said content.

The function of an ISP is to TRANSPORT the damned content from one to the other. THAT is what they are paid for! If they cannot do the one thing they are in business to do, then they shouldn't be in the business at all!!!

Incompetent conniving imbeciles!!!

Username In Use April 13, 2008 20:37

QUOTE:"People go on about Blu-ray being replaced with downloaded films yet here is a big ISP saying that they can't even cope with the iPlayer. Pathetic!":END QUOTE

Yes it is pathetic. Especially as now we're moving more and more towards digital subscriptions where instead of posting a physical DVD, media content is downloaded instead. And for what reasons? Convenience? To save costs? To save paper and maybe to save the planet?

QUOTE: "Looks like it's the ISPs fault. If they offer customers un-capped monthly download limits then the customer actually decides to use the bandwidth they've paid for.":END QUOTE

And so why shouldn't the consumer expect to use what they paid for. It's kind of like driving a car. So they increase the speed limit. That's great. Now we can go faster. But we can't go any farther or maybe even as far as we use to go because of damn caps on the "usage". So why provide all this content, why make anything available at all if ISP is going to prevent us at some point from accessing it?

Now you can drive from London to Manchester at 150 mph but your cap stops you altogether when you are half way there

andyblade April 14, 2008 10:03

Why have the ISP's singled out the BBC iPlayer as the cause of the network strain.

It's hard to belive that the iPlayer is the single cause of a capacity headache for ISP's, sounds like the ISP's have a capacity issue and have been waiting for somebody else to blame.

Anonymous comments are disabled