Posts by Daniel Dearlove

Earth to Ofcom: They're our airwaves. Give them back

Somebody is obviously confused...

...as the beeb gets all it's revenue from the taxpayer in one form or another whereas all other channels have to compete commercially. In other words, every broadcaster but the beeb has to appeal to advertisers with their content so they (advertisers and broadcasters) view everything in terms of return on investment (ROI).

In recent times, it has been very obvious that the beeb is trying to appear like the commercial channels. Remember everyone copying Kirsty Young propped on a desk? The number of weekly episodes of Eastenders has stayed in line with Coronation Street. The beeb has the space to plough it's own furrow as it's revenue is not directly linked to it's viewing figures. This enables it to take a punt in areas other broadcasters fear to tread yet I don't see any element of risk-taking to expand it's viewing figures and, in turn, revenue from other broadcasters and DVD sales.

For starters, there is talk of the licence fee being used to fund other producers. The BBC could easily spare a couple of million quid to find new screenwriters and producers and undermine this proposal in the process. To the best dozen proposals for a new TV series give £100,000 (or however much it costs) to make the pilot. Next, use your favourite selection method (phone vote?) to choose the best set of pilots for a series in the primetime 12 months from now. A regular introduction of new blood keeps the incumbents on their toes which keeps the standards high. If the new blood is better, they force out the incumbents and vice versa.

Also, have proper, 1 hour+ debates on single topics instead of the 20 or 30 minute segments interspersed with music, travel information and adverts. Currently, there is no space for rigorous questioning of the participants for a thorough understanding of various public-interest issues, the exposing of hypocrisy in the participants and a replacement of the "truth" or "consensus" in an issue with the complexity that most issues actually are. On television, this could include pre-approved Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy-style VT segments or short presentations to give a quick overview of "the scientific method", "what is DNA?" or whatever. God forbid we can actually think for ourselves.

Paris? Does she think at all?

BT declares ceasefire in broadband speed wars

If we "don't give two hoots about speed", what do we give two hoots about?

1. reliability - BT have an aging infrastructure, not just the backbone which 21CN will deal with. If you have to replace lines anywhere, might as well replace it with fibre and save all the maintenance costs. There has got to be a cost/benefit that a 2 year old can seen here. Instead of doing share buybacks and other short-termist profiteering, do the old-fashioned thing and invest in your infrastructure

2. the Ronseal guarantee - "it does exactly what it says on the tin". If you say "unlimited", you can't put a little star at the side and make it mean the opposite. If you are limiting, you have to be transparent. If I have 50GB per month then say so. Ofcom, ISPA, ASA, where are you?

3. traffic shaping - WTF!!! You're pissing in the wind with this, my friend. The only reason to have it is because you cannot invest in enough bandwidth and/or equipment so you are trying to eek out every last drop of bandwidth from what you have. Likely, you will need a large Technical Support department and plenty of Network Admins to manage the shaping and the grief. Cut the staff and traffic shaping then invest that money in bandwidth.

4. quality equipment - get rid of the daft 2wire routers that don't dish out the router config webpages properly, constantly think my Linux machine is a router and yes I know I have a lot of open sessions. I am downloading a torrent!!! Get a range of decent equipment then let the customer buy/select it instead of me collecting door stops/paperweights.

5. broadband is not a utility - your phone, gas, water and electricity are. If you lose service, the utility companies have a statutory requirement to deal with your lack of service within a certain timescale. Even though broadband is not a utility, Joe Public thinks ADSL has the same level of service as for their telephone. Check your Terms of Service (ToS) or ask your ISP's Technical Support; BT only promise to restore your service (if they can) but make no guarantees when that will happen AT ALL. The ADSL ToS I have seen specifically say that ADSL is not 100% reliable and they cannot give timescales for restoring service if you lose it. Make broadband a utility so a minimum level of service has to be guaranteed.