The Convergence Of TV And The Internet

• “Personal Computers (PCs), through the process of technological convergence, are rapidly becoming the Sovereign Provider for most forms of media entertainment”.  

• The Internet is rapidly becoming a key way in which audience consume television text.

• Whilst it is still nowhere near being the sovereign provider for TV the convergence of all media forms p gwith the Internet mean that VoD is clearly the future of television.

T h l i l C• Technological Convergence• “…the coming together of

i f ti d i tiinformation and communication technologies, especially the merging of telecommunicationsmerging of telecommunications and traditional media technologies to create new waystechnologies, to create new ways of producing, distributing and using knowledge, information and g g ,entertainment.”

• P.J. Fourie

• Convergence and VoD• Some TV channels now

offer exclusive web content, which is only , yavailable via VoD services such as BBC’s iPlayer.y

• EastEnders E20 is a typical BBC exampletypical BBC example.

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/e20/nders/e20/

• EastEnders E20 Case Study• EastEnders: E20 is a 12-part Internet Soap

Opera which originally aired between 8Opera, which originally aired between 8 January and 25 January 2010.

• A spin-off of the flagship BBC soap EastEnders

• EastEnders: E20 aired as part of the main show's 25th anniversary celebrationsshow s 25th anniversary celebrations.

• It was devised in a bid to develop and nurture new talent, including writers, actors,

d i d t tcomposers and remixers, and target a younger audience, as well as to attempt to drive more people onto the Internet.

Th h ' i ll d b 17 d 22• The show's writers, all newcomers aged between 17 and 22, were selected through a writing competition, and created the series at a BBC summer school.

• The theme tune was also selected through a competition, promoted on BBC Radio 1 ,1Xtra and Asian Network.

• It primarily operates as a standalone series but also cross• It primarily operates as a standalone series but also cross-references storylines of the main soap, and features cameo appearances from several of the regular characters from E tE dEastEnders.

• The twelve episodes between three and 16 minutes each in length and are available via EastEnders' official website with omnibus editions available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Red Button.

• Between E20's launch on 8 January 2010 and 25 January 2010, its episodes and supporting content have received 1 7 million viewsepisodes and supporting content have received 1.7 million views across the EastEnders website and BBC iPlayer.

E tE d• EastEnders E20 andE20 and Web 2 0Web 2.0

• EastEnders E20 Web Links• http://www bbc co uk/eastenders/e20/http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/e20/• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UJBt6s

t9 Yt9wY• http://www.facebook.com/pages/BBC-ttp // aceboo co /pages/ C

EastEnders-E20/195063842004http //en ikipedia org/ iki/EastEnders E2• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders_E20

I tit ti l A d T h l i l C• Institutional And Technological Convergence• BBC iPlayer is available on the following platforms:

• BBC and YouTube• In 2007 the BBC struck a deal with YouTube to show BBC content

th iton the site.• The BBC gets a share of the advertising revenue generated by traffic

to the new YouTube channels. • There are three basic BBC YouTube Channels:

1. BBC2. BBC World Wide3. BBC News

• There are also specific YouTube channels for specific BBC TV• There are also specific YouTube channels for specific BBC TV shows.

• BBC and YouTube: BBC• One of the BBC's two entertainment channels is a "public service"

iti f t i d ti iproposition, featuring no advertising. • It shows clips like trailers and short features that add value - for

example, video diaries of David Tennant showing viewers around p , gthe set of Dr Who or BBC correspondent Clive Myrie explaining how difficult it is to report from the streets of Baghdad.

• The channel's main purpose is to popularise current programming• The channel s main purpose is to popularise current programming and drive traffic back to the BBC's own website, and point the audience to the BBC's pages, where they can watch or download

i f ll iPlprogrammes in full, e.g. iPlayer. • http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6411017.stm

• BBC and YouTube: BBC• http://www.youtube.com/user/BBC

• BBC and YouTube: BBC Worldwide• The second entertainment channel features self-contained clips -

b t th t i i t l i i l i thabout three to six minutes long - mining popular programmes in the BBC's archive.

• Excerpts from Top Gear, The Mighty Boosh and nature programmes p p , g y p gpresented by David Attenborough are top candidates for this channel.

• This YouTube page will carry advertising such as banner adverts• This YouTube page will carry advertising such as banner adverts, and possibly pre-roll adverts (shown as part of the video clip) as well.

• Controversially, the BBC Worldwide page - adverts and all - can be seen in the UK.

• In the United States several television programmes experienced aIn the United States, several television programmes experienced a discernible audience increase after they made clips available on YouTube.

• BBC and YouTube: BBC Worldwide• http://www.youtube.com/user/BBCWorldwide

• BBC and YouTube: BBC News• It  is advertising funded like a similar deal with Yahoo USA. 

• BBC News is also offered to non‐UK subscribers of Real Networks. 

• Because of the advertising, these clips can be seen outside the UK only. Any UK users clicking on a link to one of the news clips on YouTube will getAny UK users clicking on a link to one of the news clips on YouTube will get a message that they have no access to this clip.

• This material is available on the BBC News Website for UK users.

• Examples Of Other BBC YouTube Channels

BBC d S t Ph• BBC and Smart Phones.• The launch of BBC News and BBC Sport smartphone applications is to be delayed, after the BBC Trust heeded

industry calls for it to review the corporation's apps proposals.• Today the BBC Trust has informed the corporation's management that it plans to assess the plans for a seriesToday the BBC Trust has informed the corporation s management that it plans to assess the plans for a series

of apps for smartphones including the iPhone and BlackBerry.• The trust said it had also asked for the launch of the first apps to be delayed. The BBC had been planning to

launch its BBC News app next month and a BBC Sport app in May. There are also plans for an iPlayer app.• When it unveiled the app proposals in February, BBC management argued that the new mobile content

offerings were an extension of existing services and are "plainly not a new content service and therefore doesn't need to be regulated as such".

• However, earlier this month the Newspapers Publishers Association, which represents UK national newspaper groups, appealed to the BBC Trust arguing that the corporation's apps plans would undermine commercial organisations' ability to establish economic models on smartphones.

• "There remains some uncertainty about the potential significance of whether it [the BBC's plans] constitutes a h f i " id k f th BBC T t t dchange of service," said a spokeswoman for the BBC Trust today.

• The BBC Trust added it had moved to look into the plans "following representations from the industry". The trust will now look at four areas: the financial implications, the impact on "users and others"; how long the activity will last; and the extent to which the change would "involve the BBC in a new area of untested activity".

• However, the BBC Trust is not, at this stage, looking to launch a full public value test into the proposed smartphone servicessmartphone services.

• "We are focused on making BBC Online's core web propositions more user-friendly, convenient and accessible, and using existing content to create truly distinctive products around our core public service areas," said a spokeswoman for the BBC. "We look forward to helping the trust with any further information they require about our plans.“

M k S (2010)• Mark Sweney (2010)• SWENEY, M (2010). BBC Told To Delay iPhone Apps, guardian.co.uk [Online], 29/03/10, Available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/29/bbc-digital-media, Guardian News And Media Limited.