This is despite an existing technology partnership arrangement with Siemens, who will be working alongside the BBC and IBM on the new projects, which include “potential collaboration projects with the BBC in areas including content distribution; customer relations management; joint research; and rights management”.

But the first cab off the rank will be in using IBM’s research system, code-named “Marvel”. The software is able to visually analyze images and video to categorize it based on appearance and to make it more searchable.

The first TV shows to undergo the Marvel treatment are from CBeebies and CBBC programs for children, and from these shows, multimedia interactive search experiences to access, learn from and enjoy the content are planned to be the result.

The BBC has a very long tail of digital content that could easily be made more accessible online. The BBC’s deal with YouTube is one way, but the other way is what the BBC has already been doing – making the shows available from its own website properties.

Given that children are avid users of the Internet, which itself is fast developing into a mature video delivery platform, the decision to start with children’s television programming makes sense. Once the system has proven itself and is further refined, there can be no doubt that it, or a successor, will be used to eventually offer all of the BBC’s content in a powerful, multimedia search environment that makes it easy to immerse yourself in whatever BBC content you desire.

Ashley Highfield is the BBC’s Director of Future Media & Technology clearly has the future in mind, and given that the BBC’s YouTube videos carry advertising, seems to be wondering about the monetization possibilities of the BBC’s vast store of content. He said that: "This alliance with IBM will offer new and genuinely innovative services to our audiences. For example, combining the BBC's massive TV and radio archive with IBM's cutting-edge research into video and audio search technology should provide the means to unlocking huge latent value in our long tail of content."

The BBC’s existing and official technology partner, Siemens, with be working with IBM to “deploy a pilot of their Media Hub technology in order to trial new business processes and ways of working amongst the BBC's creative teams”, although the BBC has also worked with IBM for “many years in consultancy, training, development support, and results and analysis for major sporting events”. Siemens have recently deployed IBM’s WebSphere products at the BBC, which sit at the centre of the BBC's service oriented architecture.

Steve Canepa, IBM's vice president for Media and Entertainment, said: "We look forward to collaborating with the BBC on these exciting and innovative new areas. IBM's combination of media and entertainment industry solution capability, R&D investment, services skills and technologies will help us to ensure that the BBC remains one of the most advanced media companies in the world."

So, first a deal with Google (through YouTube), and now a deal with IBM. Where to next for the BBC? No doubt on a continuing mission to explore new digital media worlds, encounter new media formats and more as they journey through the final frontier of cyberspace!
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Alex Zaharov-Reutt  Deals  IBM  IPTV  Research  Search  Television  Video  Web