★★★★★ 0/5

ABC announces Playback website

1
Leave a comment

The ABC is to trial three new websites in two weeks, one of which will allow viewers to watch popular programs, including recently aired shows on ABC1 and ABC2.

Under the banner heading of Playback, another will be dedicated to documentaries and the third is an ABC Shop channel.

Managing Director Mark Scott hopes the service will cement the ABC’s future in the digital age and demonstrate what can be done with current funding.

“I believe each of these initiatives is a significant step in creating the kind of public broadcaster that audiences expect and that Australia will require in the digital age,” Mr Scott said in a statement.

“Coming on top of the rebranding of ABC TV as ABC 1 and ABC 2 to better reflect the digital multi-channel reality we now operate in, these announcements underline the ABC’s leadership in digital media in Australia.

The ABC’s Sandy Culkoff said Shop channel programs will initially be available to buy for around AU$2.95 per episode on a seven-day rental basis. A download-to-own service is set to follow when Playback goes public, along with other channels including a news offering.

“Technology is changing so fast and so are audience expectations so our strategy must be to keep up with audience behaviour and technological opportunities that provide us effective means of producing innovative Australian content.”

Also announced today was the establishment of a 24/7 continuous news service. The purpose-built news centre, to be located in Ultimo, will contain teams of journalists working around the clock to provide hundreds of hours of news video each day to all ABC outlets.

Sixty new local radio websites were also launched overnight. The websites draw heavily on user-generated content by incorporating blogs, information submitted by the audience and an event diary allowing users to promote local community events.

The broadcaster is inviting 5000 Australians with ADSL2 internet connections to take part in the trial, which will continue for about three months. Expressions of interest can be registered at abc.net.au/playback

One problem Aunty…. the page wasn’ working when TV Tonight tried it.

UPDATE: Try registering here if you are logged into logged in to ABC Communities.

Source: abc.net.au
smh.com.au,
CNet

One Response

  1. How strange that they’re “inviting people” to take part in the continued trial yet have not contacted those of us who have been beta testing for them so far…

    By the way, an ADSL2 connection is NOT required for this service. Uncapped ADSL1 would work just fine, as most likely would a 1500kbps ADSL1 connection (top video bitrate is 640Kb/s)

    However, with the amount of Flash used on the site – the entire interface is Flash, and video is delivered via it – I’d recommend a VERY fast computer. Even on my dual-core machine with 2GB of RAM the entire site put a massive load on my CPU, over 50% at times.

Leave a Reply