Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI
Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI
Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI
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<strong>UK</strong> FILM COUNCIL<br />
Strategic options<br />
Provide content to <strong>the</strong> BT on-demand service<br />
BT says it wants to have a large archive <strong>of</strong> material on <strong>the</strong> service and that ‘diversity <strong>of</strong> content’ is critical. The company is open to <strong>the</strong><br />
idea <strong>of</strong> getting some <strong>of</strong> that diverse content in <strong>the</strong> <strong>for</strong>m <strong>of</strong> specialised film from <strong>the</strong> <strong>UK</strong> Film Council. Deals would be done on a case by<br />
case basis.<br />
Practicalities<br />
BT has experience <strong>of</strong> handling content ingest, digitisation and storage in <strong>the</strong> broadband space through its Rich Media division, <strong>the</strong> unit<br />
responsible <strong>for</strong> facilitating content’ <strong>delivery</strong> over broadband networks. Rich Media fulfils a similar roll to BT Broadcast in <strong>the</strong> traditional<br />
television space and is part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> same division within BT.<br />
The company said its starting point <strong>for</strong> doing content deals would be to look at <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> content and <strong>the</strong>n ‘ do a deal around that’.<br />
Older and more specialised content could also be <strong>of</strong>fered on a SVoD basis.<br />
Access costs<br />
From a consumer cost perspective, accessing <strong>the</strong> Freeview Plus service will be relatively low-cost. Consumers will have to buy a high-end<br />
set-top box costing around £120. This will have full PVR functionality as well as a broadband return path <strong>for</strong> accessing <strong>the</strong> BT VoD<br />
content. We expect <strong>the</strong>re will be no monthly access fee <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> service; just a charge <strong>for</strong> each piece <strong>of</strong> content consumed.<br />
Partnership potential<br />
Until <strong>the</strong> plat<strong>for</strong>m has launched, it is difficult to gauge how successful <strong>the</strong> BT Freeview Plus service will be. British Telecom is committed<br />
to <strong>the</strong> launch and will be putting a significant marketing spend behind it. We currently <strong>for</strong>ecast that <strong>the</strong> BT Freeview Plus service will have<br />
650,000 subscribers by end 2009.<br />
The cross promotion opportunities across all BT product <strong>of</strong>ferings are also substantial. Our understanding is that users will have to be BT<br />
Broadband customers, at least initially, which could have some limiting impact on reach <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> service. However, if <strong>the</strong> content and<br />
product are compelling enough, this is likely to become an insignificant problem. The pricing <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> box (with PVR functionality) and <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>Feasibility</strong> <strong>Study</strong> <strong>for</strong> a <strong>Digital</strong> <strong>Plat<strong>for</strong>m</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>delivery</strong> <strong>of</strong> Independent <strong>UK</strong> films and Specialised films to <strong>the</strong> Home<br />
<strong>UK</strong> Film Council © 2006<br />
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