Concluding iMP

Being on the iMP trial meant completing a bunch of surveys run by GfKMedia, the BBC's trial partner. Every day for one week in each month, I had to say that I'd watched the previous day. This wasn't too onerous, though the Flash interface was horrific.

I had more of an issue with the general surveys that happened twice during the trial and then once more at the very end. Their questions were interesting but, I felt, biased to give results that the BBC can use to show that 1) iMP is preferred to competing services and 2) they should get more money to develop iMP.

For example, in the final general survey, a question was "Which TV-on-demand services do you use: PVR technology (Sky+/Tivo), Video on demand (e.g. NTL's 'Pick of the week'), A standard VCR, None of the above ?" I picked none of the above. OK so far.

The very next question was a series of benefit statements like "It allows me to catch up on TV programmes that I have missed" and "It allows me to watch programmes at a time that is more convenient for me." For each statement, you were supposed to indicate which TV-on-demand service best provided the benefit - either iMP, VoD, PVR, None or Don't know.

Let's face it: if you've only used iMP, then it best provides each of the benefits. You're not going to say none of these benefits are provided by iMP when clearly it does allow you to time-shift. So now, it's pretty easy for the BBC to say: "We asked people who'd used iMP about its benefits, and they found iMP provided them more than NTL/Sky+/Tivo."

There are too many questions where you think "This answer could be misinterpreted". At least they made an effort to control for programme preferences, since they asked whether your iMP usage went up, down or stayed the same and also asked why it did so.

Are podcasts from the BBC in the works? One question was "Why did you not listen to more radio programmes" and an option was "I would use it more if I was able to move programmes to my mobile phone (or other mobile device)". I don't have a problem with the BBC expanding the range of popular devices where "their" content is available. But I do have a problem with the BBC playing product developer to create new devices. Another question was "Do you think that it is important that you are able to the view the iMP via your television screen?" Suppose I said "Very important". This is a green light for BBC R&D to justify a budget for developing a PC<>TV connector. That connector would be a great product. I'm sure the BBC engineering, or that of their dev partners, would be impeccable. But it is not the government's business to develop consumer technology products, and the BBC is the government.

To be fair, the survey did raise the issue that everyone complains about:

We have also received feedback that the 7 day limit to be able to view what you have downloaded was often inconvenient. We are considering various options to improve this. Which of the following options would you favour as a solution?
(Bearing in mind the size of the files, your PC and the likelihood of definitely watching it)

	Downloading a programme within 14 days of its broadcast, and then being able to view it as many times as you like within those 14 days
	Downloading a programme within 7 days of its broadcast and then being able to view it as many times as you like within a month
	Downloading a programme within 7 days of its broadcast and then being able to view it once only, but at any time you want
	Downloading a programme to own (for a fee) after the iMP's 7 day limit has expired
	Download and view a programme within 7 days of its broadcast except for series where you can download, stack and view the episodes of whole series. The whole series will be available throughout the duration of the series until the last episode transmits
	I am satisfied with the current 7 day limit

The penultimate option is very sharp. I believe it's based on the following observation. If there's a one-off show, you are fairly likely to watch it within the 7-day limit because the show only has currency for a short period. But a series goes on and on. You can discuss the series in general - not individual episodes - with your friends for months while it's on. You might not even need to watch the episodes in order. But you do want to see all the episodes, and missing one or two episodes because you mis-timed their 7-day expiries is really annoying. It's even more annoying that missing a high-value, one-off show, which can easily be repeated and for which the "download for a fee after 7 days" option is a legitimate solution.