TopGear.com Makes Video Clips UK Only

[liquid_rockface]

Guess what, I had a little bit of free time, so all of the extras clips that I found on the ftp are now up on my site for streaming

enjoy

Season 12 Extras

Hessmo.com

Wow thanks a million!!! Rep inbound!!!

[Frederic]

and if you say no they can get the police to come along with a warrant. T

The police must really hate them by now. Joining in on suits putting on a big mouth against possible violaters - fun

[Reboot]

(2) I agree - sort the music rights out and release DVDs. How hard can it be?

Very - the BBC (as UK users will know) also own a large number of radio stations, both local and national. As a by-product of this, they have a LOT more leeway in using whatever commercially-released music they want on TG without having to pay in warehouses of cash, since they can leverage the same formula for payment as their radio stations do.

There's a big "BUT" attached to this - it applies only to broadcast on BBC channels in the UK. Everything else, from Dave to BBC America to DVD release, needs to be negotiated separately. And the music companies often charge far more than BBC Worldwide can afford to pay. Ergo, music substitutions, etc result (this also affects other BBC shows, unless they make the deliberate decision to restrict themselves to music that can be cleared for other uses - Life on Mars, for instance, apparently suffered badly from music substitutions on its' DVD release.)

The problem is that there is so many people outsided the uk that watch topgear that its not a smart idea to only provide videos for their country.

Bandwidth costs money, ¥€$? One of the Daily Fail and co's favourite BBC bashes was to point out how "UK licence payers... subsidised Californian web surfers."

[codymac]

Even the majority of British people would buy the DVDs if they sold them. There just isn't any way of paying the BBC, other than through the licence fee. This is because they are a pulically funded non-profit organization, therefore if they were even to put a 'Donate' button on their website for all the world to use, it would be seen as making money. So they can't.

Edit: sorry if this has already been said, I posted having only read page 1.

Please explain how the BBC sells DVDs of their other shows and specials. We can buy everything from Ab Fab to Yes, Prime Minister. I don't understand why that's considered OK to sell on DVD but old seasons of TG aren't.

FWIW, I don't get a denial but I get a flash player error (started at work then happened at home). As of last night, I was watching with the PS3 without issue but haven't checked today.

[joey88]

it's the first time I got pissed by TG. TOTALLY unwise decison by the TG management.

[amplewaffle]

No one outside the UK can actually fault the BBC for the decision. Its their program, money, bandwidth they can do with it as they please. I think much of what is expressed here is just disappointment. TG has such a large fan base outside of the UK, that if they cut the rest of the world off, a great many people will notice and will be upset. I have read that TG is the most popular tv show ever (not sure how they measure that), and it is one of the most downloaded. If those things are true, I struggle to think that any money that goes into producing TG seasons on DVD won't be more than recouped, if not make many people at the BBC very rich (rather, richer).

[Reboot]

Please explain how the BBC sells DVDs of their other shows and specials. We can buy everything from Ab Fab to Yes, Prime Minister. I don't understand why that's considered OK to sell on DVD but old seasons of TG aren't.

The BBC licence their shows* to BBC Worldwide (a company which is wholly-owned by the BBC but is a nominally separate company to get round the fact that the BBC isn't technically allowed to do this stuff) for exploitation. BBC WW then turn around and either use their own wholly (BBC America) or partially-owned (UKTV, including Dave) channels to show it, or licence it in turn to other companies' channels. Going further, BBC WW own 60% of a DVD publishing company called 2|entertain (and are currently in negotiations to buy the rest), which decides what their release schedule for the year would be.

To date, they've decided that releasing whole series of TG on DVD - which would use the Dave/BBC America/etc music, NOT the original BBC broadcast music, for the reasons I specified in my last post - wouldn't make them enough money to be worth it. Most of the stuff they release is drama, and long-running "non-scripted" comedy/factual programmes only rarely get full DVD releases (Have I Got News For You, for instance, only gets "Best of"s. The exceptions tend to be self-contained stuff like the David Attenborough wildlife shows.)

*NB: This doesn't mean "all shows shown on a BBC channel" - only the ones made in-house by the BBC, unless the "independent production companies" licence to BBC Worldwide directly.

[Onden]

I'm glad they've done this, we have to pay a £100 a year for the BBC and you lot are watching a show for free that's financed by the population of the UK's money. I hope it's not a bug if they do come back I defiantly gonna complain. If you lot from other countries are willing to pay a £100 then your welcome to watch, perhaps they should setup a system like that.

Perhaps that applies to watching (downloading) the show, but I don't understand how that applies to little clips on the web - aka what this thread is supposed to be about.

After all, if you live in the UK, but don't own a TV and don't pay the license fee, you can still access the clips Are they any different than people in other countries who don't pay the fee?

What if I do buy the episodes via iTunes or watch them on BBC America? Should I now be entitled to view the webclips? How would you track that?

I'm just not sure I understand why they'd feel the need to make 1-3 minute outtake clips and such region limited. If they had entire shows on there, sure, but it's not like showing outtake and highlight clips to the world is going to hurt the promotion and sales of the show.

[Network233]

The "UK Only" status of the online videos is not going to change. If your a fan of the new DOCTOR WHO or TORCHWOOD then you know this already. I'm not sure i understand why fully but it has something to do with international copyrights. I have been trying to get the real scoop and even my source inside BBC Whales is unsure. if I find something out i'll post it.

[shellygrrl]

I'm not sure i understand why fully but it has something to do with international copyrights.

Or perhaps international internet distribution rights?

I referred to this in another, similar thread; but I'll elaborate here, too...

BBC would have the rights to allow UKers to stream all their video on their site (and, by some extension, the TG UK site); but they don't have the rights to let non-UKers (and UK expats) do the same. (News and information videos wouldn't be blocked internationally.)

[dragonboy3000]

Australians dont have to worry about this anymore. As of this morning, Top Gear.com has its own Australia sit which is fully up and working with essentially all of the clips from the uk site, except those from s12 since we havent got that yet, but it did include the outtake from the trucks and the promo.

[codymac]

The BBC licence their shows* to BBC Worldwide (a company which is wholly-owned by the BBC but is a nominally separate company to get round the fact that the BBC isn't technically allowed to do this stuff) for exploitation. BBC WW then turn around and either use their own wholly (BBC America) or partially-owned (UKTV, including Dave) channels to show it, or licence it in turn to other companies' channels. Going further, BBC WW own 60% of a DVD publishing company called 2|entertain (and are currently in negotiations to buy the rest), which decides what their release schedule for the year would be.

To date, they've decided that releasing whole series of TG on DVD - which would use the Dave/BBC America/etc music, NOT the original BBC broadcast music, for the reasons I specified in my last post - wouldn't make them enough money to be worth it. Most of the stuff they release is drama, and long-running "non-scripted" comedy/factual programmes only rarely get full DVD releases (Have I Got News For You, for instance, only gets "Best of"s. The exceptions tend to be self-contained stuff like the David Attenborough wildlife shows.)

*NB: This doesn't mean "all shows shown on a BBC channel" - only the ones made in-house by the BBC, unless the "independent production companies" licence to BBC Worldwide directly.

Thanks for the explanation.

Very glad we've got the folks who rip the shows picking up the slack.

[aaron1uk]

As a Licence payer myself, I have no problem with anyone being able to view top gear extras online, its not as if it really costing the licence payer much/ if anything at all, I understand bandwidth costs, but I would think the advertising covers it.
seems a little ridiculous imo, surely having 1000s more people viewing the (videos)/website surely would generate more ad revunues.

[Network233]

Or perhaps international internet distribution rights?

I referred to this in another, similar thread; but I'll elaborate here, too...

BBC would have the rights to allow UKers to stream all their video on their site (and, by some extension, the TG UK site); but they don't have the rights to let non-UKers (and UK expats) do the same. (News and information videos wouldn't be blocked internationally.)

that's pretty much the way i understand it... not that i approve or anything.

[Reboot]

As a Licence payer myself, I have no problem with anyone being able to view top gear extras online, its not as if it really costing the licence payer much/ if anything at all, I understand bandwidth costs, but I would think the advertising covers it.
seems a little ridiculous imo, surely having 1000s more people viewing the (videos)/website surely would generate more ad revunues.

Well, there's a recession going on, as you may have noticed. Ad revenues are down everywhere. Since topgear.com is a BBC Worldwide site (all licence fee-paid sites are under bbc.co.uk and aren't allowed to show ads to UK users), it has to pay for its' own running costs. One of the choices they've made appears to be to split it into regional sites - UK, US, Aus, etc, with more targeted content and advertising.

I wouldn't be surprised if UK users were to find the US subsite, f'rinstance, sealed away very soon...

[aaron1uk]

I could swear there used to be ads on there before they revamped the design.

[locust]

I download/torrent a LOT of BBC programs (or programmes, if you prefer), not because I don't want to pay for it, but because I CAN'T pay for it. It's just not an option for us.

When they set up any kind of system that allows us the opportunity to get full BBC programming by any means, you will have every right to complain. Until then, STFU, seriously.

I'm right there with you. During the last world cup I paid livetv.co.uk 50$ to get the bbc coverage team rather than having to listen to ESPN (worst case I suppose I could have watched it on telemundo, though I don't speak spanish). If I could pay the 200$ a year to pay for the BBC and get the content directly I would.

[amandalea]

If I could pay the 200$ a year to pay for the BBC and get the content directly I would.

Agreed. 100%.

[Sir Roger Moore]

Well, there's a recession going on, as you may have noticed. Ad revenues are down everywhere. Since topgear.com is a BBC Worldwide site (all licence fee-paid sites are under bbc.co.uk and aren't allowed to show ads to UK users), it has to pay for its' own running costs. One of the choices they've made appears to be to split it into regional sites - UK, US, Aus, etc, with more targeted content and advertising.

I wouldn't be surprised if UK users were to find the US subsite, f'rinstance, sealed away very soon...

If the BBC used targeted advertising, which for those who do not know is the putting up ads on a website for companies/services in whatever location a web user's IP is based they could more than pay for the bandwidth. So, if a user from the US visits the TG site they might see an ad for a US-based business/service.

The Guardian and The Times already use targeted advertising and it is a smart way to pay your bills if you ask me. The Beeb already can distinguish UK from Non-UK IPs so I should think it would not be too hard to do this.

Sorry if the targeted ad explanation was a little too simplistic.

[skylock]

You know, I am not surprised or bothered by this new developement. Just one more step and I am watching them anyway.

They have to do what they have to do and so do I.

And I really appreciate the people that are downloading them and putting them on the ftps.

Is that going to still be possible?