BT is set to battle out with the BBC
Telecommunications giant BT is set to battle out with the BBC and other online video services to force them to cough up money to cover costs associated with delivering videos to its subscribers.
BT has been caught trying to throttle BBC iPlayer’s content. Customers on BT’s entry level broadband package saw their speed reduced to under 1mbps for seven hours, between 5 o’clock in the afternoon and midnight.
BT has called for an end to the ‘free ride’ video websites have had on its network and is looking to charge content owners for delivery of their programmes. According to John Petter, managing director of BT Retail’s consumer business: ‘We can’t give the content providers a completely free ride and continue to give customers the [service] they want at the price they expect’. It’s not clear whether the comments indicate BT is looking to charge us for iPlayer and YouTube access, but if Google and the BBC refuse to pay up, it just might be an avenue that BT explores, along with limiting access to the services at peak times.
According to Ofcom’s Converged Communications in Tomorrow’s World report, the UK’s internet infrastructure is close to “maximum capacity” already thanks to the success of services like BBC iPlayer and 4oD Catch-Up, meaning broadband providers will have to upgrade their networks – and that costs money.
Indeed, last week, the BBC reported that BT broadband ‘cuts the speed users can watch video services like the BBC iPlayer and YouTube at peak times’, and that it was ‘concerned the throttling of download speeds was affecting the viewing experience for some users’. So the limited access might well be an existing reality for BT’s broadband customers.
“Despite its popularity, the BBC iPlayer is just one of the many services on the open internet and only makes up a small percentage of total internet traffic in the UK,” said the statement.
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