bbc.co.uk

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bbc.co.uk
Image:BBC Home.png
Image:BBC.co.uk.png
URL http://www.bbc.co.uk
Commercial? No
Type of site Portal
Registration 1996
Owner BBC
Created by BBC
Current status Active

The domain name bbc.co.uk is the brand name in the United Kingdom for the online services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It was introduced on 6 May 2004. Under its previous names, the BBC's online service first went live in 1994. As of 2004, the current controller is Tony Ageh.

Formerly BBCi (still the brand for interactive TV services) and before that BBC Online, the Web-based service of the BBC is one of the world's largest and most visited web sites (forty-first most visited according to Alexa on 18 August 2007 [1]). It currently contains over two million pages.

Contents

[edit] History

The service's original home was www.bbcnc.org.uk (the "nc" standing for "networking club") launched on 13 April 1994. Within 12 months, the BBC offered "auntie" on-line discussion groups; web pages for select web-related programs and BBC departments; free web pages for associate members; and an internet connection service www.bbc.co.uk [2] was launched in 1996 though the old address also remained active for some time afterwards. For a time, www.bbc.co.uk was used for the organisation's corporate and educational site, while entertainment-based content appeared on www.beeb.com. The two sites were merged c.1998 to become BBC Online [3] at www.bbc.co.uk. In 1999, the BBC bought the www.bbc.com domain name for $375,000, previously owned by Boston Business Computing [4], but the price of this purchase was not revealed [5] until 6 years later. As of 2005, www.bbcnc.org.uk no longer exists. The beeb.com address now redirects to the BBC Shop website run by BBC Worldwide, at www.bbcshop.com.

On 14 December 2007, a beta version of a new bbc.co.uk homepage was launched, with the ability to customise the page by adding, removing and rearranging different categories, such as 'News', 'Weather' and 'Entertainment'. The widget-based design was inspired by sites such as Facebook and iGoogle.[1]

[edit] Content

Image:Newbbcwebsite.PNG
The new bbc.co.uk website in beta mode

The websites include news from the BBC News website, an extensive sports section, music, science, technology and entertainment pages, among other things. As might be expected, the website has a decidedly British orientation, although the home page, news section and sports section each give the reader a choice between UK and "International" versions.

In February 2001, BBC Online incorporated Douglas Adams' previously independent h2g2 project into its group of web sites, and is now replacing all its existing message boards with the DNA software derived from that project. The site's Collective magazine also uses the DNA software.

Unusually for a high traffic website, bbc.co.uk has extensive technical information available about its operation.[citation needed] The BBC also makes some of the content on bbc.co.uk and the BBC News Website available in XML format on its developer network backstage.bbc.co.uk. Also, through participation in the Creative Archive Licence group, bbc.co.uk allows legal downloads of selected material via the internet.

[edit] Streaming media

The BBC Radio Player allows users to listen to most broadcasts from the BBC's various radio networks live, and for 7 days after they are broadcast, via streaming media; some video content is also streamed, particularly high-profile news and sport events. Initially streams were generally broadcast in the RealAudio and RealVideo formats controlled by RealNetworks and the BBC drew criticism with some for using those closed formats which, at the time, could only be played using RealPlayer. In response to such criticisms, the BBC negotiated a unique deal with RealNetworks to offer a player which didn't contain as much advertising and Real-related marketing, a 'cut-down' version of RealPlayer.

With the advent of the Helix Project, the Real format is playable on a wider range of platforms and devices: Windows, Mac OS X, various flavours of Linux and Unix, Windows Mobile, and many Symbian based handsets.

Windows Media has also been embraced and, as of Autumn 2006, is now available for all UK-domestic listeners to all national radio streams.

More recently, the BBC has been experimenting with MP3 downloads and podcasting facilities for an increasing number of radio shows, with a high level of success; a less publicised trial of Ogg Vorbis streams for certain programmes was less successful, and has now been discontinued. A new system called the "iPlayer" is currently being developed and trialled, which uses peer-to-peer and DRM technology to allow users to download both radio and TV content, to be played within the software, which will automatically "expire" after 7 days.

[edit] Funding

The BBC's site was initially entirely free from advertising, but since November 2007 visitors from outside of the UK will see banner advertisements on the site. This was due to the BBC's funding, derived primarily from compulsory television licence fees from UK viewers. This meant bbc.co.uk has sometimes caused some controversy, as web users outside the UK could use the services (including the entire BBC radio services) without having to pay for them. It has been suggested in the past that the BBC block users outside the UK, but instead it has created a version of the site supported by adverts for such users. In addition, where rights to sporting events (such as certain football or cricket matches) do not include international online coverage, users from outside the UK are blocked from listening to commentaries. It is worth noting in defence of its open policy that the BBC's site is primarily hosted from two locations[6], New York and London. The London site is funded from the licence fee and the New York server is funded through a series of grants (similar to the BBC World Service) and not directly by the licence fee. However those grants do ultimately come from the British public.

[edit] Graf Report

In early 2004, the site was made the focus of a government review, launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, led by Philip Graf. Sections of the UK internet industry had argued that the BBC site offered things that were available in the commercial sector, creating unnecessary competition.

The review was published in July 2004 and it was recommended that the BBC "prioritise news, current affairs, education and information which is of value to the citizen." In response the BBC also shut down a small number of sections of the site, including the popular Soaps section.

In November 2004, the Governors of the BBC announced a newer, much more tightly drawn remit for bbc.co.uk as part of their response to the review. They also announced, as Graf had recommended, a new approach towards external providers which will see bbc.co.uk aiming to spend at least 25% of its eligible budget on content and services through independent commissions by the end of 2006/07.

The implementation of the Graf report has seen the popular messageboards in the BBC Sport section shut down, as the BBC tries to promote its 606 brand, but these changes have proved unpopular as the interface has proven unusable and large numbers of content providers have abandoned the BBC site.

[edit] Cult TV

From 1999 to 2005, the BBC ran a popular subsite called Cult TV. This subsite had news, star interviews, trivia, and other content popular with fans of the cult TV shows they covered. Examples of covered TV shows include Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Farscape and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

On 15 July 2005, the BBC announced that the site was closing as of the end of the month, although the Doctor Who section would be unaffected as the series was an ongoing BBC concern. The announcement explained that this was "part of the restructuring of the BBC's online activities". It was promised that some of the content would be moved to new places on bbc.co.uk, although as of August 2007 it is currently still all online at the no-longer-updated Cult site.

[edit] Children's

The BBC runs a comprehensive children's website subsite. It includes information on all of CBBC's shows along with several subsites covering art, sport, news, and other current events. Its message boards are especially popular with children who use them to communicate with each other about all of CBBC's output among other salient topics for kids like bullying, books, and personal problems. The "Your Life" [7] page is especially geared to helping young people sort through their difficulties. The members of the boards offer each other advice. Advice is also offered from a professional psychotherapist agony uncle called "Ask Aaron" whose answers can also be seen on interactive television through CBBC eXtra.

The BBC also runs a message board for young people named onion street.

There is good integration between television output and website content. The website is easily accessible and popular with children. Furthermore, interesting aspects of children's programming (like Newsround or Tracy Beaker) will often have followup information on their corresponding websites.

[edit] Vulnerabilities in the System

In March 2007, a vulnerability was exposed in the BBC's "Most Emailed" and "Most Read" news sections[2]. This vulnerability continues to exist in the system as of January 2008.


[edit] References

  1. ^ A Lick of Paint for the BBC Homepage, bbc.co.uk, 13 December 2007
  2. ^ Statistics Hacking - Exploiting Vulnerabilities in News Websites PDF, Amrinder Arora, International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, Vol.7 No.3, March 2007

[edit] See also

BBC Portal

[edit] External links

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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
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ManagementBBC Trust · Sir Michael Lyons (Chair) · Mark Thompson (Director-General) · Mark Byford (Deputy Director-General)
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