BBC teams up with Azureus for Zudeo distribution

A fancy new distribution platform is only as good as its content, and while we knew Azureus had the former down pat with Zudeo's snappy HD distribution techniques, we weren't quite sure what they had up their sleeve for the latter part of the equation. Well, good news: BBC just signed up for Zudeo, and will be making "hundreds of episodes" available on the fledgling download service. "Programmes" will include Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and The League of Gentleman, with classics such as Fawlty Towers available as well. There will be DRM slapped on top of the shows, which will be distributed in a "high-quality" form, and there's no word yet exactly how much Zudeo will be charging for these downloads, but if they can break through that $1.99 barrier we're seeing good things in Zudeo's future -- especially with more content deals on the way, which Azureus is planning to announce in January.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Sam @ Dec 20th 2006 1:20PM]

SMEGTASTIC!

[Taz @ Dec 20th 2006 1:45PM]

Surely those of us paying our 13 quid a month ($26) to Auntie should be getting these episodes for free?
Fat chance? Yeah, thought so... I guess the MPAA/RIAA aren't the only peeps who want you to pay for the same media multiple times on each format.

[Ian Jardine @ Dec 20th 2006 2:20PM]

Isn't "Auntie" working on a direct delievery brpadband system for License paying British residents?
Then this new channel would be for use by those of us outside of the License Fee arangement.
That makes a lotta sense. I can't see anything on the site yet though that hints at such a future offering.

[clicclic @ Dec 20th 2006 2:37PM]

I don't see ANY mention of $1.99/episode in the article. Am I missing something? Surely the overtaxed Brit has already paid his dues to these shows:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6194929.stm

If anything the download will be filled with ads just like what we endure here in the states. AFLAC!

[Tyler @ Dec 20th 2006 2:45PM]

haha that picture is great!

[mathew @ Dec 20th 2006 2:56PM]

DRM?

They just don't get it. *sigh*

[JON BLAST @ Dec 20th 2006 4:11PM]

I love that episode where Rimmer is that WW2 hero, he gets in a plane full of Nazis, blows it up, then skyboards an alligator down to safety while it chomps on the head of some nazi guy, HILARITY ENSUES!

SMOKE ME A KIPPER

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Dec 21st 2006 7:50AM]

Or what about the episode where they go to play the virtual reality game? They all lie back in black dental-shaped chairs in a dark room, and end up getting fooled into thinking they are actually not in the game, and they stay in it for 15 years or something. That episode was pants-wettingly funny! ROFL!!

[hal4579 @ Dec 20th 2006 4:26PM]

DRM on a peer to peer network?

If I can get iTunes type content and less than a quarter the price then maybe I'll let them use the bandwidth I'm paying for. I don't mind paying for TV. I've been doing it for years with cable, but If I'm going to pay-per-episode I want to cancel my cable. Also they should create an account like pay-pal style for the shows. You can put a choosen amount of money in and when it's used up you either add more, or don't watch. One more thing. I will never pay for a regular tv program if there are commercials during it. They can have some before or after the show. Why would I would I buy commercials? I pay $45 usd for cable now. Take that and put it in my TV download accout and I get 180 shows @ $0.25 usd. That's about 6 shows a day, which is just a little more than I watch now. With no commercials, that's only about 2 hours of programming. Show me a system that works like that and I'm in.

[PreGHz @ Dec 20th 2006 8:20PM]

The best was the "Tension Pad" episode.

It's red, and bubblewrap. Who knew that you could make millions off of it?

[mitch @ Dec 20th 2006 8:23PM]

Fawlty Towers??
JOHN CLEESE IS MY HERO

[ando @ Dec 20th 2006 8:35PM]

Look what it did to me! It's turned me into Duane Dibbley - the Duke of Dork.

[James @ Dec 21st 2006 4:40AM]

Don't worry license payers, soon the BBC will finish off the trials its currently running of direct delivery of content - and then we'll all be able to watch what we want when we want, for free, in the UK. THAT's why I pay a license fee - show me a commercial channel that will do that.

And, no adverts apparently in the P2P files.

I heart BBC.

[stuart @ Dec 21st 2006 6:33AM]

you guys need to check out `the league of gentlemen' - try to watch them in order otherwise they might make little sense. totally dark, but amazingly funy!