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ABC1 Videos: Promos

The ABC takes “TV out of the box”.

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The ABC has been teasing its viewers lately with the tagline “TV out of the box”. Well, this evening the ABC announced that its BBC iPlayer-esque service initally dubbed ABC Playback is now open to the public, and has been rebranded as ABC iView.

The BBC have been very succesful in establishing iPlayer as a brand despite its ordinary name, but really, iView was the best they could come up with?

Anyway, derivative name aside, the just launched ABC iView service is fairly similar to the beta version of the ABC Playback service that I reviewed earlier this year. And while the video quality is fine, and the content has increased to include news among other things, the interface still bugs me badly, and the whole thing doesn’t come close to the user experience of the newly launched BBC iPlayer 2.0.

Categories
Videos: Idents Web Asides

iTunes Australia now offering TV downloads.

iTunes Australia now selling TV.

Categories
BBC One Videos: Promos

Penguins can fly on the BBC’s iPlayer.

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UPDATE: Added the “making of” video above.

While the ABC is still busy getting its Playback service off the ground, the BBC’s iPlayer is already a huge success with over 17 million downloads and streams since its Christmas day launch.

To celebrate April Fools Day and further promote the iPlayer platform the BBC produced this very funny and creative promotion that ran yesterday across BBC television, and generated the kind of 1st of April newspaper stories we’ve all come to expect, with the Mirror reporting: First-ever images of the world’s only flying penguins.

The Guardian has reported that the spot was likely well worth the money for the coverage it received, and while the BBC is certainly raising the bar on the digital future, I can’t wait to see what the ABC delivers.

– Thanks to Craig for the video.

Categories
ABC1 Videos: Promos

Hello Future: The ABC’s digital ambitions.

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The ABC made some big announcements about its digital future today, including the launch of an iPlayer-esque service called ABC Playback, a for-pay download store, and the groundwork for the long anticipated 24 hour news channel.

And while theres plenty of time to talk about the need for platform agnosticism and critique the interface and branding, the one thing that is entirely clear is that the national broadcaster is leading the way among Australian broadcasters, and further demonstrating its relevance during this digital revolution.

Read all the details here or check out some of the action in the video above.