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Comment by ErrantX | Hacker News Reader

that was my first thought too.

The BBC is in a funny position here in the UK. Personally I find it's news (especially the online division) divisions excellent compared to other broadcasters and online news agencies.

So this is a good thing (spread the content out etc.)

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Yeah, I reckon it's a step in the right direction. But I have often thought about why the BBC hasn't embraced new media in an attempt to project the corporations aims onto a much higher plain. Their whole "bytesized" revision gumph was a heap of shite compared to what they could offer considering the vast amount of programme data they have available. Why this model is being restricted to previously broadcast news, is beyond me. The revenue that could be generated from selling high quality documentaries and other archived material (Reith Lectures, The Forum, BBC Proms, etc.) could be huge. Guess "Dave" is a case in point for this in terms of light entertainment, but I would prefer to see some more forward thinking initiatives (I've talked about my desire for BBC iPlayer to embrace torrents on HN before - share the load, localise data, distribute the cost of archiving and retrieving).

a lot of the stuff they cant sell commerically because of the limitations placed on the BBC. They do have a commercial arm (which is what runs dave) but it's confusing quite what that owns (right's wise).

True. I remember reading about the pressure being put on BBC's commercial arm by the British press due to the vast sums of money it can rake in. The problem being that license payers have paid for this, and so should be considered shareholders(?), and yet we get no choice in how BBC media is used commercially or how the fortunes are reinvested. Seems a shame that the BBC cowers in the background, perpetually outputting a standard quality product when in truth it has the opportunity to truly innovate. Dunno, maybe I'm just expecting too much from them, but I can't help but think that somewhere along the line, they missed a trick.

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