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Rotten core of BBC deal

Apple tie-in may leave Auntie open to criticism, says linton chiswick

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As of yesterday, British iTunes customers are able to download popular BBC television programmes and watch them on computers, iPods or other portable media players.

The deal is ground-breaking for two reasons. It's the first British TV deal with iTunes - Apple's digital music and video supermarket - and it's the first time the BBC has sold downloadable content.

The new arrangement complements the BBC's recently introduced iPlayer (which, despite the name, has nothing to do with Apple). BBC drama fans

 

can watch their favourite shows when they're broadcast on television, catch up with what they missed for up to seven days, for free, using iPlayer (assuming they're using a PC, because the iPlayer still isn't Mac-compatible) and now download their favourite shows - for keeps - from iTunes, at the

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standard £1.89 an episode.

What's confusing is that the iTunes deal doesn't, according to the BBC, signal an end to 'Project Kangaroo'. This is a joint venture between the BBC, Channel 4 and ITV to create their own video-on-demand service and iTunes-style download

 

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