At Last - BBC lines up year-long video podcast trial

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for this news. At last the BBC have jumped on to the train and are about to deliver Video Podcasts (or Vodcasts). This mornings Broadcast announced that this week"The BBC is to launch a 12-month video podcast trial that will make 30 programmes, including Newsnight and Question Time, available to download to portable viewing devices including iPods. "

Visit the Trial HERE

Using iTunes, or directly through the BBC website, you will be able to access weekly highlights of the Ten O'Clock News and Newsnight. The third programme, StoryFix, will offer a tongue-in-cheek look at the week's news - not as original an idea as it may seem - Sky have been producing a similar service for the past 6 months!!

Adrian Van Klaveren, the deputy director of BBC news: "There is no doubt that the bias among devices that are capable of playing the MP4 format tends to be younger, whereas news programming skews older." The trial, which will be evaluated after 12 months, will also aim to determine the length and style of content viewers want to download.

I'm really excited that the BBC are finally moving forward on this, Video Podcasting has been possible with a few simple clicks for an awfully long time. It is just that the BBC is so regulated by policy that everything has to pass "public value testing" which can take upto a year. In addition the BBC are working really hard to try and solve all the rights issues that are associated with using such technologies.
- Paul Williams