BBC chairman Michael Grade has reinforced the BBC’s commitment to creating a vibrant interactive television market, pledging to work more closely with the industry as a whole in order to create more diverse services for viewers.
Speaking at the Interactive TV Show Europe in Barcelona, Grade stated that the BBC has “a duty” to invigorate the market by working more closely with independent production companies and sharing the BBC’s expertise.
He said: “We must never forget that the BBC has been able to achieve its current leadership position in interactive partly because its secure funding has allowed it to make substantial investments in this new technology at a time when others in the industry have not been able to. That puts certain obligations on us.”
The BBC boss also stated that, in addition to powerful new technology, strong content was needed in order to attract viewers to the service. According to Grade, the BBC’s duty to provide services in the public interest can be translated as a duty to ensure a level playing-field in the supply of content to third party interactive producers when compared to the BBC’s in-house producers.
Grade explained: “The great store of knowledge the BBC has amassed about interactive is not just a BBC resource, but a resource for the whole industry – including other broadcasters. The BBC is committed to sharing this knowledge freely and openly.”
As part of his speech to European delegates attending the broadcasting conference, Grade announced the launch of Ten Extra, an interactive service due later this month to support the Corporation’s 10 O’Clock News. Grade claimed the service will add an extra dimension to the news programme’s content and provide “another way for the BBC to deliver its public value commitment.”
The announcements follow several moves to increase interactive offerings to viewers. The BBC recently announced massive audiences for its interactive coverage of the Olympic Games, drawing nearly nine million viewers with its enhanced red-button services .
Commercial broadcasters are also embracing interactive TV. The Zip TV consortium has secured deals with several major broadcasters in recent months to provide unified interactive advertising solutions to companies wishing to spread campaigns across several networks.
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