ABC investigating international iView service, future local offerings
- — 18 March, 2011 17:08
ABC iView already offers users the chance to purchase content through links to the online ABC Shop, but ABC Commercial is "looking at various options" including possibly streaming purchased video directly to viewers. Hutchinson also says it is possible that the ABC will offer its back catalogue of video on a user-pays basis.
The ABC's Arul Baskaran also talked to PC World Australia about possible future directions for iView locally. A high definition option for iView is under consideration, as is the possibility for storing programs for longer-term access. "It's [about] finding a compromise between quality and bandwidth. We will be looking at moving to adaptive bit-rate streaming — that's certainly on the roadmap. And storage is certainly a part of it — we have to manage storage and bandwidth quite carefully, especially as iView grows more popular. We're looking at 60 to 70 percent growth year on year."
Baskaran believes that the two-week viewing window does have its advantages, and that iView users aren't too disadvantaged by the restrictions. At the end of most programs' two weeks on iView, an increase in user interest is recorded: "Keeping it fresh we find works much better. There's already a depth there, there's about 200 hours of programming at any one point — around 300 to 400 shows. [With] programs that are going to expire soon, we find that scarcity refocuses people on those programs."
Availability across multiple platforms is a major avenue of investigation, including for the Apple iPhone and Android smartphone platform: "With iView, we're more focused on reaching not only the iPad, but a whole range of platforms. We started out on the browser, then the Sony PlayStation, then BRAVIA, and we're working with all the leading manufacturers' set top boxes, tablets, and phones down the road.
"The work we did on the iPad app gives us the bones of an iPhone app — we're just working on some of the technical challenges with streaming across 3G. We recognise that people use these devices not only when they're at home or the office — making it truly mobile is something that we think would be valuable.
"It's something that would have to balance with making sure that people don't get hit with astronomical data charges, so building that into the interface is something we're looking at."
The possibility of an ABC iView app integrated with Facebook, Twitter or other social networking services is a distinct possibility: "We added a watch list feature to the iPad app which has proved really popular, that gives you a notification when a new episode is added to iView that you might like.
"That's something we like — the idea of how we can tap into what your friends might like. We want to leverage your social network and what people you know are watching — if two people you know like something it shows up, if eight people like something it gets added to your watch list."
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