NONSTOP 90s-2020s
Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) emerged in 1995, with its promises of crystal-clear audio taken up more rapidly in the UK than anywhere else in Europe. Interference-free quality, additional programme information and new channels were some of the benefits. In 1997, the BBC went online thanks to director-general Baron Birt recognising a potential for public service broadcasting. He sought the advice of young people working in the corporation about which way the BBC should turn in the fledgling online world. BBC Online was the result. A hugely important moment arrived in 2007, demonstrating early semblances of the emergence of VOD and OTT: BBC iPlayer was launched. Though now iPlayer is a huge success, it took years to deliver and had a tricky time getting approved by BBC managers. Ben Lavender woke up with the idea of everyone being able to access all of the BBC’s programmes on demand via the web, and so began work on the integrated Media Player (BBC iMP). It took 84 internal presentations, a
massive effort to clear copyright issues and a host of technical trials before the successful launch. As the first all-digital Olympics, the BBC provided live coverage of every London 2012 sport from every venue. The complete digital package enabled audiences to switch between 24 simultaneous live streams and rewind live coverage, offering relevant live data statistics and information seamlessly, in all delivering some 2500 hours of coverage via the BBC Sport website. It serves as a glowing emblem of the journey sports broadcast has been on, from the piece of paper with a football pitch drawn on in 1927. In 2013, the Queen officially opened the BBC’s new London HQ at Broadcasting House with a live broadcast. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the BBC powered up support for young people’s education at home, amid concerns that large numbers of children had no access to remote learning platforms. BBC Live Lessons and BBC Bitesize Daily , along with Our
ON DEMAND The BBC has led the charge on many innovations
School and Celebrity Supply Teacher were all launched on the CBBC channel. In 2021, live top-tier English league football returned to the BBC for the first time since 1988. The first match was in July, with 5.7 million tuning in. This game set a new viewing record for the Premier League in the UK. Despite the pandemic, summer 2021 saw a huge season of sport, with the return of Wimbledon, the men’s football European Championships, the new domestic cricket competition The Hundred and also the Olympics in Tokyo – all covered on the BBC.
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