[access-uk] Re: New BBC Streams: Response from BBC

  • From: "Steve Nutt" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 09:08:42 -0000

Hi Pele,

I don't think just because they put country instead of county it means they
don't understand the problem.  I think this is a very measured response.  I
think devices do need to move on and use HTTP, not proprietary streams.
Windows Media is not just old, it is ancient technology.

All the best

Steve

All the best

Steve

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-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Pele West
Sent: 19 February 2015 09:04
To: Access UK; BCAB Discussion List; Uk Radio Listeners
Subject: [access-uk] New BBC Streams: Response from BBC

Hi Everyone

Apologies for cross-posting. Below is the response from the BBC about
the deletion of the Windows Media streams and the new streams.

I spoke to someone on the phone to lodge a complaint, so my initial
message is not available. I have pasted the message in as I did not use
this e-mail account.

Once again, I expressed concern about the County Cricket, but I don't
think the BBC person understood as the reply says "country cricket".

Pele West

Message from BBC

Dear Mrs West

Reference CAS-3156059-1RHCJT

Thank you for contacting the BBC iPlayer Support Team.

I understand you are unhappy with decision over Audio format closures.

We thought long and hard before deciding on the direction for Audio Factory.
The system replaces, not just the online streaming systems for national
radio, but also the systems for the nations and local radio. As such we had
to make choices around standardisation. 

We have decided to use the http streaming formats HLS, HDS and DASH. We
began communicating our plans to internet radio manufacturers over 12 months
ago. HLS streams are now available to internet radios and aggregators that
wish to use them. We have been working with various manufacturers to help
them develop their products where possible to support our new streams. We
are actively working on delivering our audio using the non-proprietary DASH
delivery format to support other manufacturers and their devices going
forward. 

The Shoutcast AAC streams we provided for network radio only, relied on very
old hardware and unsupported software. They had a very high support
overhead. We have kept a single shoutcast stream of every live service to
support devices that will never be able to play HLS, HDS or DASH streams.
Whist we cannot promise to support shoutcast for more than 1 to 2 years, we
will monitor the number of users and the quality of our service and base our
decision making on the impact to the audience.

Our new ShoutCast streams are unrestricted which means that we can make them
available both in the UK and globally, this significantly simplifies how
they are served, but does mean that users whose devices can only receive the
ShoutCast stream and not one of the new HTTP streaming formats will hear a
version of the stream which will blank sport where the BBC does not hold
international rights. The new HTTP streams are available in both UK and
international variants, which allows those in the UK to continue to enjoy
the Sport that we broadcast as usual. We are investigating to see whether
there is anything we can do to return access to the UK streams for those who
are affected by this, we are working hard to get this resolved before big
occasions like the Country Cricket.

I hope that manufacturers will be able to support our new streams or upgrade
existing devices as time goes on, and we will do our best to support them as
the technology continues to evolve. 

We’ve published a new blog that addresses some of these points and is also
worth reading:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/977a1954-658f-4fb2-a23c-71680c49
882f#comments

I hope this information helped.

Thanks for contacting us.

Kind regards

Harry O'Hagan
BBC Audience Services
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

NB This is sent from an outgoing account only which is not monitored. You
cannot reply to this email address but if necessary please contact us via
our webform quoting any case number we provided.
webform quoting any case number we provided.


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