Re:BBC & DVDs...you are slightly mistaken... (Score 2, Interesting)

It's also worth noting, in defence of the license fee, that many programs for the BBC contain plenty of rights issues outside the scope of the BBC. It's all well-and-good to assume that the Beeb's output is entirely paid for and OK to redistribute yourself, but it is usually riddled with considerations like "is that top 40 single playing in the background of this piece licensed for redistribution on the internet?"

The Beeb paid for it to be in the show, but probably not to be strewn across bittorrent! Not that it's particularly my concern, but it doesn't legitimise or legalise anyone's p2p use of BBC material.

Also of consideration is that the license fee is subsidised by sales of DVDs at whatever price. Loss of sale of BBC programs on DVD will directly affect the cost of the TV license (though, not by a lot - profits from the BBC commercial arm make up only a small part of the overall financial picture.)

There is hope on the horizon though:

-- http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/sto ries/2004/05_may/26/creative_archive.shtml

The BBC Creative Archive is looking to open the BBC archive under creative commons licensing. That will ROCK.

There's something else cool coming out this year from the bbc website, too, but I can't find a link to it so I should wait until I can!