BBC may start offering Top Gear on iPlayer globally.

That American Girl

That American Girl

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http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6890412.ece

Not sure if this has been posted before, so...

Myself...I'd be more than willing to be able to watch/download an episode of Top Gear or any of the other presenter's shows as soon as they come out. As long as that money would really go back to the people at the BBC who would need it.

The article had mentioned about $10 for each episode. Now, if this includes a good HD quality...or maybe some extras...I'm in!

I do download quite a bit, I'm ashamed to say... but right now there's just really not a lot of options for us here in the US. Some DVD's are available online, but the majority of them are PAL format.:mad:

Or we get buddies in England to get "a hold of some stuff to watch" and then give it to you. Generally doesn't work well for me at least! Or it's still wrong format...anyway.


I've seen a lot of posts from people living in the UK who say things like:

"I have to pay for my BBC here...why should you get to see it free?"

And...they're right as well! The BBC does spend a lot of money to put these shows out there, and I have no issue in being asked to pay for them myself.

So...any other thoughts as to how this will pan out?
 
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I think $10 an episode is pretty high. I wouldn't be able to afford anything other than Top Gear because that alone would be $140 a year. Pretty steep when comparable DVDs would be roughly half that, if not less. Something like, I dunno Jonathan Ross that comes on more often would be out of the question. Not that I care about that particular show, but it's an example.
 
Well, the question is which Top Gear are we talking about? I'd pay $10/show for exactly what is shown...and heard...in the UK, music included. But I'm not about to pay serious money for the cut and neutered versions that have so far been shipped across the Atlantic.

$10/show for HD and $5/show for SD....yea, I can do that.
 
I am going to guess that if the BBC cannot internationally distribute the BBC2 broadcast in it's original format on DVD or iTunes, I would be very surprised if they could do so via iPlayer. I imagine it is just this restriction that, at least in part, keeps iPlayer limited to the UK (sans those using various hacks to access it from locations external to the UK).

Therefore, I would not be interested in it since I have already purchased the show at least "content complete" via iTunes. Also, how long is downloaded iPlayer content viewable? The gist I am getting from the Wikipedia article is that it's a rental as opposed to a sale, with a seven day viewing window once started (and a 30 day window to start watching it).

I would be willing to pay more for HD Top Gear content via iTunes, so if the BBC makes Series 14 available in both HD and SD on the US iTunes store, I would pay twice as much for the HD version (so around $4 an episode or $20-25 for a season pass). I would also love to be able to buy Clarkson's (and May's and Hamster's) DVDs though the iTunes Store (I have been buying them from the UK, but I would like digital versions compatible with NTSC digital playback devices).
 
Content usually is retrievable for 7 days, infinitely storeable if downloaded with get_iplayer.
 
$10 an episode? Total cash grab. Especially when you consider it costs them nothing beyond their operating costs to distribute it.

At this price, I don't think too many people will be saying goodbye to torrents.
 
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$10/ep is pretty steep, IMO. Plus, unless you have the means to do so, you won't be able to save it to burn to DVD. (This is why I don't buy eps off iTunes.) If the price per episode were more comparable with the price per ep on iTunes (~$2), I'd reconsider.

For now, though, I'll be one of those sticking to torrents and FTP.
 
I think I saw something about this on the BBC iPlayer Blog before. If I remember correctly, they said the only major problem that they would have with it is the amount of bandwidth required and the amount that it would cost them, which they would struggle to justify to the BBC Trust.

I would imagine if a show of strong support for it was put forward they would have an easier time justifying it.
 
What I'd like to see the BBC do is to offer iPlayer to anyone anywhere that is willing to pay a TV Licence Fee. Last time I checked, a TV Licence was ?142.50 per annum. I'd be more than happy to pay ?142.50 per annum to get full and legal access to all BBC iPlayer content, and I suspect that there are a lot of non-UK residents out there that would feel the same way.
 
?142.50 = about $233.86 USD = about $259.38 AUD
 
Until a year ago we were paying $40 USD a month for a dozen Uk channels (then the sevice was challenged in court and discontinued). The license fee would be half that a steal for those of us who love UKTV.

I fear the real problem would be the same reason our service was stopped - international exclusive rights to syndicated shows like Dr Who and Top Gear. In America BBCA, Sci-Fi and others pay to be the only legal way to watch these shows. If the BBC were to open iplayer to everyone, they would be in violation of these very lucrative agreements (which are making JC and AW very rich men). My guess is it will never happen (or atleast not until they work out a way to keep the real money flowing).
 
Mike Nassour said:
Well, the question is which Top Gear are we talking about? I'd pay $10/show for exactly what is shown...and heard...in the UK, music included. But I'm not about to pay serious money for the cut and neutered versions that have so far been shipped across the Atlantic.

$10/show for HD and $5/show for SD....yea, I can do that.
Click to expand...


True, and yes...$10 an episode is steep..

A DVD here (if you can find one) for a complete season retails for about $35. Season 10 for example is 9 episodes, plus the 2 specials. Plus some behind the scenes stuff.

Not counting the extras, that works out to about 3-4 bucks an episode.

I'd say then that $5 an episode would be fair, to buy just the episodes I wanted.
 
The likes of sky are already moaning that the BBC is to big and i heard but do not know if it is true that the tory's want to make the BBC smaller so i do not think they would be allowed to offer the Licence fee on a globel scale.
 
shellygrrl said:
?142.50 = about $233.86 USD = about $259.38 AUD
Click to expand...

I would actually pay that, if it gave me full and unlimited access to anything and everything the Beeb has every broadcasted, and will broadcast, in HD quality, with download option.

but this is not the case

Otherwise 10$ seems fair for a TG ep, maybe they can do a bundle offer if you want to watch a whole season or something for 100$
 
Chances of BBC making Top Gear available for the rest of the world with all original content are very low, imo. Because torrents are so easy to use, available very quickly and starting next searies, in HD, I'd be very reluctant to pay for any service that's worse than it's free counterpart. I might show some support and buy one episode or something, but frankly I'd rather have the torrents and, I dunno, maybe donate to Top Gear via PayPal or something :)

But like I said, it'll prabably never happen.
 
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