BBC internet head warns ISPs against download service charges

Thu, 3 Apr 2008

BBC internet chief Ashley Highfield (pictured) has warned internet service providers not to pass on charge for download services, such as the iPlayer, to broadcasters.

Highfield, director of future media and technology, launched his attack on a BBC blog earlier this week following industry concerns that the popularity of TV download services such as the BBC's iPlayer will cost them millions of pounds.

The iPlayer has exceeded initial expectations serving a quarter of a million shows every day, but ISPs have complained that the extra traffic has tripled their overhead costs.

Ofcom has estimated that the cost of improving infrastructure to cope with the demand could reach £830 million by 2011, and that the broadcaster should be made to pay a "congestion charge".

"I would not suggest that ISPs start to try and charge content providers," he writes. "They are already charging their customers for broadband to receive any content they want. If ISPs start charging content providers, the customer will not know which content will work well over their chosen ISP, and what content may have been throttled for non-payment of a levy."

Highfield advises them to pass the increased costs onto their customers, warning that those that do not but instead "traffic-shaped" their networks to manage bandwidth would be blacklisted. He adds: "I hope it doesn't come to this, as I think we (the BBC and the ISPs) are currently working better together than ever."

He also suggests that ISPs should be clearer in their marketing, stating that "unlimited broadband should mean unlimited".

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