The British Broadcasting Corp. is planning to launch a new Web service that will allow users to download its TV and radio content for up to a week after it airs. Plans for the Beeb's "MyBBCPlayer" were unveiled at the Edinburgh International Television Festival last weekend. Mark Thompson, BBC director general, said he hoped the service could be active by 2006 according to a report from The Associated Press. The same report said that download fees or digital rights management were not discussed.
Revealing his thoughts about the future of over-the-air content delivery, Thompson reportedly said, "I accept the premise that if the BBC remains nothing more than a traditional TV and radio broadcaster then we probably won't deserve or get license-fee funding beyond 2016. That is very definitely not our plan."
