The BBC is apparently planning a simple online video adapter to enable a transition to online television delivery, designed specifically for people who find existing user interfaces too confusing. The project was referenced in the announcement of a report published on the importance of digital inclusion, although the report made no reference to the plan. It appears that this is separate to the recently Freely streaming box recently announced by Netgem.
Tim Davie, the director general of the BBC said in a speech last May that the corporation was “considering a streaming media device with Freely capabilities built in, with a radically simplified user interface specifically designed to help those yet to benefit from IP services.”
As reported by informitv last month, Netgem announced a Freely box and many assumed that this was the sort of thing the head of the BBC had in mind.
A report now published by the BBC, on the Socioeconomic Impact of Digital Transition, was commissioned in collaboration with Everyone TV, the organisation the is promoting Freely, and produced by PwC.
In promoting the report, the BBC repeated that it “is exploring ways it can support audiences to access IPTV, building on the support we gave to create the easy-to-use free streaming TV platform Freely. For example, the BBC is exploring the idea of a new streaming media device, designed with accessibility in mind and a radically simple user interface specifically designed to help those currently underserved by digital services.”
The BBC has since confirmed that this is separate to the Netgem device, which is aimed at a mainstream market.
It suggests that the BBC believes there is a need for something simple, and probably very low cost, to encourage more people to use online television services. That includes those on low incomes, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
The policy document estimates that these groups represent around 1.5 million households in the United Kingdom.
The report suggests that ‘digital inclusion’ has significant economic benefits and the BBC believes that television has a role to play in any transition to a fully digital society.
Helen Burrows, the controller of digital transition at the BBC, said: “An IPTV switchover offers an opportunity, through a carefully planned and managed transition, to act as a catalyst to help realise these broader social and economic gains. And the BBC is ready to work with government and industry partners to guide viewers through this change, whenever it happens. But to unlock this potential, the government must commit to a switchover and fully support Ofcom’s ask for a decision on timings for this by early next year.”
The report, the Socioeconomic Impact of Digital Transition by PwC is available from the BBC web site.