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Around 190 hours of TV shows and 310 hours of radio programmes are to be made available for legal downloading to selected individuals across the UK.

It marks the second stage in the development of the BBC’s interactive Media Player (iMP).

The iMP will allow viewers to catch up with programmes up to seven days after they are broadcast, using the internet to download shows to home computers.

Five thousand people will take part in the three-month trial from September.

“iMP could just be the iTunes for the broadcast industry, enabling our audience to access our TV and radio programmes on their terms – anytime, any place, any how,” said Ashley Highfield, BBC director of new media and technology.

What a refreshing attitude!

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De Europese leiders hebben wel een geheim plan om de Europese grondwet te redden als de Franse kiezers die in het referendum van 29 mei met een kleine meerderheid afwijzen. Dat stelt de Britse krant The Sunday Telegraph.

Tot dusver was het parool in de EU dat er geen ‘plan-B’ is. Daarmee werd de indruk gewekt dat een Frans ‘non’ het einde van de grondwet zou betekenen, maar dat niemand daar eigenlijk aan wilde denken.

Het ‘plan-B’ is er volgens de krant alleen voor het geval het verschil tussen de Franse ja- en nee-stemmers klein is. Op een groot verschil (‘grand Non’) hebben de leiders volgens The Sunday Telegraph geen antwoord, behalve dan dat de Europese grondwet ‘in feite dood is’.

Plan-B houdt in dat er na een ‘petit Non’ een spoedverklaring van de 25 Europese lidstaten komt, waarin onder meer staat dat de ratificatieprocedures moeten doorgaan en dat het verdrag door alle 25 landen moet worden goedgekeurd om van kracht te kunnen worden. In het plan staat verder dat Frankrijk nog een keer moet gaan stemmen als alle andere landen het verdrag geratificeerd hebben.

In Zweden is kennelijk nog niet doorgedrongen dat er een ‘plan-B’ is. Daar hebben de twee kleinste regeringspartijen – Groenen en Links – zondag gezegd dat Zweden moet ophouden met het ratificatieproces als de Fransen tegen stemmen. Groenen en Links regeren samen met de sociaal-democraten, die zonder hun steun niet aan de macht kunnen blijven.

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Responding to news reports today that BitTorrent is already facilitating the illegal file sharing of the final Star Wars episode, Revenge of the Sith which opens in theaters today, Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) President and CEO Dan Glickman made the following statement:

�There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith. The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world.

Except that this was an inside job, being a work-print and all. Have you fired the responsible employee yet? In fact, since you so conviniently forget to mention it, I suspect it was a deliberate leak on your part. That doesn’t make sharing it “right”, of course, but I question your motives.

�Fans have been lined up for days to see Revenge of the Sith. To preserve the quality of movies for fans like these and so many others, we must stop these Internet thieves from illegally trading valuable copyrighted materials on-line.

If they’ve been lining up for days, they surely must have had their laptops with them, and downloaded them with a wireless network connection. Right? Or, perhaps the download doesn’t influence fans like this at all?

Oh, and let’s get back to that “thieves” word again. Back in 1985 a man named Dowling was prosecuted for the Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property for selling infringing copies of Elvis records. The U.S. Supreme Court in DOWLING v. UNITED STATES, 473 U.S. 207 (1985) struck this down because copyright infringement is not theft.

Glickman said that the average movie costs $98 million to make and market. Less than one in ten movies re-coup their original investment from the domestic box office and six in ten never recoup their investment .

Meaning 5 in 10 get their investment back from video sales, DVD sales, placemats, towels, and t-shirts. If that’s the case, why the fuck are you so worried the movie is leaked early on, when it still running in the movie theaters, since that’s such a minor part of your income?

The average BitTorrent network has up to 2.5 million users a day.

And the copy was leaked on Usenet before it was on BitTorrent. But anyway. Let’s assume those 2.5 million users are the same 2.5 million that were on yesterday and the same that are on tomorrow. You know what, let’s raise it to 5 million, assuming half have their computer turned off on a particular day. Let’s also assume not every one is interested in Star Wars. If I’m very generous, 1 in 10 will download it. Say 500,000 people. And I’ve never seen so many sites listing it so many times, so for an average movie it is probably closer to 10,000.

Let’s also assume a movie ticket is on average $6.25.

Now, some more numbers:

Quote:

Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith earned $ 35.5 million dollars on Friday, May 20. Revenge of the Sith�s total box-office gross is now at $85.5 million dollars for its first two days of theatrical release.

That $85.5 million translates to 13,680,000 visitors in the USA alone, on the first two days, and it’s also a record. Probably more Those 500,000 downloaders really have an impact, don’t they? In fact, with all the free advertising you’re now getting with your “Thieves! Thieves!” screaming I’m willing to bet a significant number of people think “gee, that must be a good movie if so many are stealing it”.

But sure, let’s blame BitTorrent. Let’s blame trucks for bringing illegal immigrants across borders, hyperdermic needles for heroin use, beer cans for alcohol abuse, cameras for pornography, voice boxes for the rise in bad language and linear time for people getting older and dying.

It’s a really poor craftsman who blames someone else’s tool. But you know, I’m glad the MPAA posted this press release. Why? Because I’m glad to know it was bittorrent that ruined the magic of Star Wars for me.

You see, for a few nasty moments there I thought it was the shitty dialogue, the obscene toy commercialism, and the crude sterotyping that was doing it, but now I know it is BitTorrent, so I can uninstall Azereus and get my childhood back…