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[News] [SOT] Channel 4 (UK) Under EU Probe for Anti-competitive Practices

EU probes Channel 4's digital handout

,----[ Quote ]
| The European Commission is to investigate whether a state grant to Channel 4 
| distorts competition in the UK TV market. 
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/02/eu_channel4_probe/

See the reference below. It also defends the Microsoft monopoly.


Related:

Channel 4 offering on-demand TV for UK users but not Mac/Linux compatible!

,----[ Quote ]
| Seriously, this has gone too far, they explicitly state on their site
| that they're required to use a certain DRM by their content owners
| which is obviously WMV: 
| http://help.channel4.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/? 
| St=80,E=0000000000004217305,K=4636,Sxi=19,CASE=1363 We need Apple to
| open up FairPlay! Who's with me?
`----

http://digg.com/apple/Channel_4_offering_on_demand_TV_for_UK_users_but_not_Mac_Linux_compatible
http://tinyurl.com/y2txlv


Feeling the heat at Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| A couple of years ago you reiterated that IBM was Microsoft's biggest 
| competitor and you said not just on the business side, but overall. If I ask 
| you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?  
| 
| Ballmer: Open...Linux. I don't want to say open source. Linux, certainly have 
| to go with that.
`----

http://www.news.com/Feeling-the-heat-at-Microsoft/2008-1012_3-6232458.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc


Microsoft SEC filing:

"A prominent example of open source software is the Linux operating system.
Although we believe our products provide customers with significant advantages
in security, productivity, and total cost of ownership, the popularization of
the open source software model continues to pose a significant challenge to
our business model, including continuing efforts by proponents of open source
software to convince governments worldwide to mandate the use of open source
software in their purchase and deployment of software products. To the extent
open source software gains increasing market acceptance, sales of our products
may decline, we may have to reduce the prices we charge for our products, and
revenue and operating margins may consequently decline."

http://www. microsoft.com/msft/SEC/default.mspx


Status Quo: Can't watch the news in Linux

,----[ Quote ]
| As you can see, we had one site that improved (CBS News) and one site that 
| has actually gotten worse (BBC News). Congratulations to CBS news for joining 
| the 21-century. I am not sure what to say about BBC News. Apparently, the BBC 
| is now using a new video player called the "BBC iPlayer", which only supports 
| Microsoft Windows operating systems. Because of this, there was a lot of 
| controversy about the highly restricted player, including this petition.     
`----

http://useopensource.blogspot.com/2008/01/status-quo-cant-watch-news-in-linux.html


BBC Director General grilled by MPs on iPlayer

,----[ Quote ]
| During the meeting there is discussion of iPlayer’s total cost to the licence 
| fee-payer - the BBC representatives are unable to give a figure, but start 
| the bidding at £20m, excluding staff costs. Thomson gives incorrect 
| information - that Mac and Linux versions of iPlayer have the same 
| functionality as Windows versions - and has to change his evidence at the 
| end. Perhaps it was this confusion that prompted Dr John Pugh MP to follow up 
| the encounter with a letter direct to Mark Thomson today discussing platform 
| neutrality in greater detail. A copy of this letter has been passed to the 
| Open Rights Group.        
`----

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/


BBC Corrupted

,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With 
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of 
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution 
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating 
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must 
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital  
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be 
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.      
`----

http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted


BBC iPlayer Protests 

,----[ Quote ]
| Who are the people responsible for creating this mess?
| 
|     * Mark Thompson, BBC director general (DG)
|     * Erik Huggers, group controller at BBC Future Media & Technology
|     * Ashley Highfield, director of new media and technology
| 
| Right now, there is very considerable concern within the BBC that the actions 
| of the Director General and his team are sending the corporation in the wrong 
| direction. The BBC has been embroiled in a number of recent controversies, 
| all linked back to the DG's leadership.   
`----

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/iPlayerProtest


Why Linux Users Should Be Furious At BBC

,----[ Quote ]
| Recently the BBC had a bit of a wake up call regarding numbers and how many 
| Linux users were really out there. Why does any of this matter? It has to do 
| with something the BBC provides called the iPlayer. Seriously, relying on 
| ActiveX is so "1990's" that it's painful, and as luck would have it, the 
| Linux users who wish to use this BBC player made sure that the BBC knew that 
| they were making the sought after content inaccessible to those people using 
| Linux.      
| 
| No iPlayer for Linux Users, But There Will Be An Alternative. Based on what I 
| have been able to gather thus far, it looks like we will see an Adobe Flash 
| option coming out soon. Then again, who really cares? Seriously, if the BBC 
| is this foolish to ignore how much Linux growth is taking place both in the 
| UK as well as the surrounding countries, then maybe people ought to be 
| looking elsewhere? Is it because this is indeed, the BBC? So there is the 
| belief that this is the people's media? Up until now, I enjoyed much of what 
| the BBC had to offer, but this entire thing is enough to have pushed me away.       
`----

http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2731&Itemid=449


Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates 

,----[ Quote ]
| BBC viewers have flooded the corporation with complaints over how it
| covered the launch of Microsoft Vista earlier this week.
| 
| In one cringingly servile interview worthy of Uriah Heep, the
| Beeb's news presenter Hugh Edwards even thanked Gates at the
| end of it, presumably in appreciation at being allowed to give
| the Vole vast coverage for free.
| 
| In other TV news items presenters excitedly explained how Vistac
| ould be obtained and installed - details courtesy of the BBC's
| website.
| 
| But British viewers, currently forced to pay a £131.50 licence
| fee to maintain the BBC's "impartiality", were less than impressed.
| 
| Scores got in touch to complain that so much was Auntie up Bill's
| bum that you could barely see her corset.
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411


http://slated.org/bbc_microsoft_bias


BBC: Death by a thousand top-slices

,----[ Quoet ]
| So it looks like the end of the unique, state-centric model for funding the 
| BBC. An incoming Conservative administration is unlikely to be more 
| sympathetic to the BBC, with its stifling bureucracy and monopoly control 
| over a compulsory tax.   
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/18/bbc_top_slicing/

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