Category: Radio
Date: 14.04.2005
Printable version
The BBC is to podcast up to 20 more radio shows - including sections of the Today programme and selected Radio 1 speech content - as it extends its download trial, it was announced today.
Speaking at Music Radio 2005, Simon Nelson, Controller of BBC Radio and Music Interactive, revealed that more programmes - including those listed below - will be available to download and podcast at bbc.co.uk/radio until the end of the year, following the popularity of the BBC's previous downloading trial.
"These technologies can transform the value we deliver to audiences and make our programmes more accessible for both new and existing audiences," said Mr Nelson.
"The BBC was the first British broadcaster to podcast when we made In Our Time available last year and this trial will enable us to further explore the editorial, technical and distribution issues involved."
It is hoped the project will offer a more detailed picture of audiences' appetite for downloads and their preferred content.
Moreover, the time-limited trial has been set up to better inform the development of the BBC strategy for audio downloads and on-demand content, which Simon Nelson is leading across the BBC.
The trial means the BBC will offer its first daily podcasts - the Today programme's 8.10am interview - along with weekly titles and speech highlights from Radio 1 programmes for listeners to download and transfer to portable audio players.
The programmes confirmed so far are:
Today (Radio 4, daily) - 8.10am interview
In Business (Radio 4, weekly) - Peter Day examines trends and developments in industry and the world of work
From Our Own Correspondent (Radio 4, weekly/twice weekly) - personal reflections by BBC correspondents around the world
In Our Time (Radio 4, weekly) - Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of ideas
Reith Lectures (Radio 4, run of six) - Lord Broers on The Triumph of Technology
Sportsweek (Radio Five Live, weekly) - get under the skin of the week's big sports stories
Fighting Talk (Radio Five Live, weekly) - sparky sports debate with points for punditry
Rumour Mill - (Radio Five Live, weekly)
Mark Kermode film review slot (Radio Five Live, weekly)
Radio 1 speech highlights - to be confirmed
Go Digital (World Service, weekly) - how technology is changing our lives
Documentary archive (World Service, twice weekly)
TX documentaries (1Xtra, weekly) - various subjects
Gaelic Letter (BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal, weekly).
The BBC will also include a series of radio programmes in its next trial of the Interactive Media Player (iMP).
This trial will offer rights-protected, time-limited downloads of both television and radio programmes.
The iMP aims to offer UK residents a television and radio catch-up service for programmes that have been broadcast, as part of the BBC's drive to use new technology to offer even greater public value to licence fee payers.
Podcasting is an extension of downloading, whereby listeners can have new programmes automatically delivered to their computer as soon as they are posted on the web.
Listeners download an application (such as iPodder) that checks the web to find the new version of tagged audio files - such as In Our Time - the listener has selected.
The BBC first offered mp3 downloads of last year's Reith Lectures, followed by In Our Time and Fighting Talk (also podcast) and selected 1Xtra documentaries.
The three programmes taking part in the first mp3 download trial - In Our Time (Radio 4), Fighting Talk (Radio Five Live) and TX Unlimited (1Xtra) - were downloaded a total of 270,000 times in the first four months of the trial.
