YouTube offering clips from BBC

John A 1 263 Views

YouTube (now owned by Google) and BBC struck a deal that would soon allow the former to provide clips from the latter. Special channels will be created on YouTube that you can watch the content through, providing many popular BBC shows such as Top Gear and Doctor Who.

But this move is not surprising, given the fact that many TV providers have been offering their shows on YouTube, such the NBA highlights. Many people prefer video-on-demand to live streaming video over the web, so that is basically the reason why the deal went the route it did. However, I would not be shocked to find out sometime, in the not-too-distant future that YouTube will offer live streaming content from some providers.

So what does BBC get out of the deal, since the videos are going to be free-to-watch? Well, the content will be sponsored by YouTube's banner ads which run while you watch videos. This means that the videos will be free to watch. YouTube gets the added traffic of viewers of popular BBC shows.

BBC currently offers video shows available from their website, however given the popularity and ease-of-use of YouTube, it looks like YouTube is going to be BBC's primary means of broadcasting its content over the internet. Another interesting fact that you may have already been aware of is that much of BBC's (and other major TV shows) are already broadcast on YouTube simply from user submissions. However, it's nice to get the content from an official provider for a change.

Because of Google's aquisition of YouTube, does this mean we can expect BBC content on Google Video eventually? I expect some sort of merging of the two technologies anyway, so as to create a more unified interface. Nevertheless, I'd be happy to have BBC on YouTube or Google Video, both of which are extremely high quality media players. Looks like a win-win situation for BBC and YouTube.

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Dani AI

Generated

raised the original news and asked the obvious technical question about RealPlayer — here’s a concise, historically accurate follow-up and what it means for anyone finding this thread years later.

The BBC/YouTube agreement was announced in early March 2007 and centred on branded, short-form channels and news clips on YouTube as a distribution/promotion route. Coverage at the time noted ad-funded, territory-limited arrangements and a mix of editorial and commercial goals. (See contemporaneous reporting such as The Guardian.)
(https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/mar/02/digitalmedia.broadcasting)

On the playback/format side: the BBC did use a variety of streaming technologies in that era (including RealPlayer/Windows Media for some feeds), but the landscape changed fast. The BBC’s own catch‑up service, iPlayer, launched later in 2007 and moved toward Flash streaming and then standard HTML5 delivery as the web evolved. YouTube followed the same path, deprecating Flash and defaulting to HTML5 playback in the 2010s. (Background: BBC iPlayer history and YouTube’s HTML5 transition.)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPlayer)
(https://www.infoq.com/news/2015/01/youtube-html5-player-default/)

Google’s separate “Google Video” product did not become the unified front for licensed TV content — Google consolidated around YouTube and finally retired Google Video (remaining uploads migrated to YouTube by 2012). That essentially answered the “will BBC be on Google Video?” question in favour of YouTube as Google’s video platform.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Video)

Practical takeaway for readers now: prefer official sources for stable, legal copies — the BBC’s official YouTube channels and BBC iPlayer are the right places for verified clips and catch‑up viewing (iPlayer is region‑restricted and subject to licence rules). Using official channels reduces the chance of poor quality, removed uploads, or rights problems. For developers or rights holders, the episode shows why clear territory and format terms matter when syndicating broadcast content online (short clips + promos vs full‑episode rights are handled very differently).
(https://www.youtube.com/@BBCNews)
(https://www.youtube.com/@BBC)

Member Avatar for jbennet
jbennet 1,618 Most Valuable Poster

wont that annoy Real?
all the BBCs stuff on thier site requires realplayer

Member Avatar for John A
John A 1,896 Vampirical Lurker

>wont that annoy Real?
BBC doesn't care. Their main goal is to gain as much exposure to their clips as possible. Real's probably slightly upset, but it's not like whining will do anything.

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