The EC Digital Single Market Strategy and the British Television Industry

Today, the European Commission published its strategy on the Digital Single Market. As was to be expected, there was both abundant support and vehement opposition to the idea.

As I scrolled through Twitter looking for reactions I came across these two items:

EU digital single market geo-lock clampdown could spark @BBCiPlayer funding issue http://t.co/xYy9R2fjec pic.twitter.com/a6nILRudkJ

— The Drum (@TheDrum) May 6, 2015

iPlayer on your holidays? EC looks to make it possible: The European Comission wants to make it possible... http://t.co/ayprxEEicF #IPTV

— TV Connect Event (@tvconnectevent) May 6, 2015

The European Commission absolutely believes that content available online in one EU country should be available in all. The first article, with commentary from a leading law firm, implies that it would be unfair for UK licence fee payers to subsidise access to the BBC iPlayer for other EU citizens. The second states that the BBC supports the strategy and is beginning work on how to implement it.

However, the Digital Single Market could benefit the BBC - and deliver further revenue, so that the iPlayer is, in fact, subsidised by EU viewers outside the UK. Today, in the UK, watching the iPlayer is free of advertisements. There is nothing in the EC strategy document that suggests that for other EU viewers, the BBC couldn't generate revenue from ad placements. Meanwhile, clearly UK citizens will benefit from access to content from other EU countries.

The objectives ('Pillars') of the Digital Single Market strategy are:

1. Better access for consumers and businesses to digital goods and services across Europe.
2. Creating the right conditions and a level playing field for digital networks and innovative services to flourish.
3. Maximising the growth potential of the digital economy.

Whether you support or oppose the idea, in the end, it's really a question of outlook. Do you seek opportunity when there is change? For British business, the Digital Single Market will deliver rewards to those that eagerly embrace it.

The strategy contains 16 initiatives. For the TV industry, there are two that are particularly relevant. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive underpins much of the law concerning linear broadcast and on-demand streaming. The Commission will consider how to adapt the rules to new business models for content distribution. The Satellite and Cable Directive will also be reviewed to consider the inclusion of broadcasters' online transmissions within its scope.

It seems highly likely that the Digital Single Market strategy will force the TV industry to change the way rights are bought and sold across the European Union. The implications are not trivial. For instance, the rights to sporting events, which are sold on a country-by-country basis will have to change, if viewers across Europe can access television broadcasts from anywhere within the EU. The cross-border portability of copyright-protected content services is a stated aim of the strategy, as well as to boost cross-border access to broadcasters' services in Europe.

So, if we are to have in the UK an 'in-out' referendum on EU membership in 2017, will the Digital Single Market strategy encourage the British people to stay or go?

SeeSaw under the spotlight

SeeSaw has been a long time coming. It's what the BBC's Project Kangaroo became after it was forced by the Competition Commission to sell it off and Arqiva acquired it. Now in beta, it's due to go live to the public in the next few weeks.

The first impression is of something that has been thrown together very fast. The typeface is unpleasant and the layout is difficult to navigate. What is most obvious immediately is that there is very little content on the site. I can only expect that much more will become available before public launch and that it will continue to increase thereafter.

Programme discovery

The challenge for SeeSaw is going to be in programme discovery. The intention of Project Kangaroo had been to make available the entire archives of the Beeb, C4 and Five. If it becomes reality, it is a huge amount of content to sort and a very difficult task to display it to the viewer in a meaningful way.

At the top of the page is a 'carousel', a style of menu deployed by many of the Video On Demand (VOD) players, including Joost, Hulu, Livestation and the iPlayer. SeeSaw are using it to highlight a small amount of featured content. There is a challenge to keep this fresh and interesting for the individual viewer and there is currently no way for the individual to provide preferences.

Below the carousel is a box offering catchup TV. Although it does not specifically state it, this section has links to programmes that have recently aired. There are only seven shows on it, all from Channel 4 properties. This leaves big questions about the role of SeeSaw in catchup television - as opposed to archival - and where the content is going to come from: just Channel 4 or will it include Five and BBC material? Kangaroo was supposed to carry anything older than what is available on the iPlayer.

The box beside it "If you really love TV..." seems to me totally redundant. I cannot understand its purpose. There are three further boxes below: 'Classic comedy'; 'The best years of your life?'; and 'Critically-acclaimed modern drama'. These categories seem to be entirely arbirtrarily chosen and the content within them is unexpected. Girl Who Cries Blood is in 'The best years of your life?'. The category does have a '?', I admit.

Meanwhile the top navigation bar has: Categories, with a limited number of them; Channels, containing BBC, 4oD and Five, only the last of which is a channel; and a search box. In principle this makes sense but the sub-menus need to be extended.

Choosing what to watch

Clicking on a channel provides series names, showing by default 'Featured'. These appear to be a random assortment. It is not clear whether these will remain constant or how they will be updated. There is, once again, no option for individual filtering. You can select by A-Z.

I chose the first programme, The Line of Beauty. The programme page is quite nicely laid out but also the easiest part of the interface to get right. There is a video screen at the top and below are the programme details in a column next to an episode menu. There is some guidance both on the screen itself and at the bottom of the page referring to strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.

On clicking to play, a guidance note pops up, asking me to confirm my age. In small type there are links to setting up parental controls and 'find out more' presumably about parental controls. The parental controls, if they're going to be part of the service, should be much more evident. There are links to them in the footer but even if you scroll down, you might not see the reference in the tiny writing.

There are frequently two ads followed by a programme sponsor. This is frustrating but I doubt that SeeSaw will fill all of its inventory if the service takes off, meaning that double spots disappear. Clicking on an ad, hoping to pause, I was taken to the brand's page that should make sense commercially but these sorts of click-through deals are few and far between, largely unproven to generate revenue for publisher or advertiser.

Video streaming experience

You click to play and the lights go down. I like this. It's not a novel idea - Hulu has it, for example - but it's good. Moving your mouse brings the lights back up.

There are frequently two ads followed by a programme sponsor. This is frustrating but I doubt that SeeSaw will fill all of its inventory if the service takes off, meaning that double spots disappear. Clicking on an ad, hoping to pause, I was taken to the brand's page. 

Some sites have toyed with adaptive bitrates, which means that you get a quality of stream that adapts to your downstream bandwidth, as it varies. It is possible with SeeSaw to fix Low, Medium or High bandwidth by moving the mouse over the screen when the ads have finished and the programme begins. These should just be under the screen, as should the volume and 'full screen' controls.

The screen size is fixed, unless you opt for full screen. This is a weakness. I particularly like the way Zattoo manages screen size, so that you can set it to whatever you like, regardless of the bandwidth that you have chosen.

That said, the flash-based video is of good quality and consistency, even at low bandwidth.

Final words

I'm left disappointed by SeeSaw. Arqiva bought the assets of Project Kangaroo but it isn't entirely clear what they picked up with that bargain. The user interface is poor. The available content is minimal, although I expect that is temporary. There are no social aspects, even just for sharing what you're watching on Facebook, let alone a proper integration with it or Twitter. Project Kangaroo was expensive to develop.There are some very significant challenges for SeeSaw and it appears from the beta that there is still a lot of work to do.