Stephen Poppit
By email
to: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xx
m
28 June 2010
Dear Mr Poppit
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – reference number RFI20100757
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act (‘the Act’) of 29 May 2010
seeking:
“I write to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, in
respect of the BBC's internet-based iPlayer service.
As the information requested is a summary of financial information, I hope that it should be readily
available from the project's files as a matter of good accounting practice.
In each instance, please specify whether the figure you state relates to the calendar year or to your
financial year (and in the latter case identify the year-end date).
1. What is the total cost to date, over the lifetime of the project, of the BBC's iPlayer service:
including the costs of developing the iPlayer software used on the BBC website, and the costs of
maintaining and running the iPlayer sections of that website, subdivided as follows -
(a) What is the total cost to date of developing the current Flash-based software, including the
beta versions and release version of the player software, and the writing of (and revisions of) the
related webpages; specifying seperately the costs in respect of (i) internal BBC employees, (ii)
external consultants, and (iii) licencing fees contracted (including to Adobe) for any proprietory
technology included in the project?
Please state also the period covered by this phase of the project, together with the cost incurred
under items (i), (ii) and (iii) in each year during that period.
Where information for the current year is incomplete, please include the best estimate (and
identify it as such).
(b) What is the total cost to date of developing each of the earlier non-Flash versions of the player
software, including the WM (Windows Media) version and the Radio Player, and also including the
Beta versions and (where applicable) release version of each, and the writing of (and revisions of)
the related webpages; specifying seperately the costs in respect of (i) internal BBC
employees, (ii) external consultants, and (iii) licencing fees contracted (including to Microsoft) for
any proprietory technology included in the project?
Please specify those costs seperately for each of the different phases of the development, broken
down on a year-by-year basis:stating the period covered by each phase of the project (the period
when development of each seperate version of the software was being carried on), and the cost
incurred in conection with that phase under items (i), (ii) and (iii) for each calendar year (or
financial year) falling within that period.
(c) What is the total cost to date, broken down on a year-by-year basis since the commencement
of the project, of running the iPlayer website including (in previous years) the cost of running the
precursor versions of it such as the Radio Player: identifying seperately (i) the costs associated with
purchasing (or renting) the webservers and other hardware used for the streaming, (ii) the cost of
the bandwidth consumed by the streaming, and (iii) all other set-up or continuing costs (other than
development costs of the player software and the webpages).
Please state the commencement date of the project. If a breakdown for each year of the project is
not feasible, please state the period covered by each phase of the project, and the average cost
per year of that phase.
2. What is the forecast cost for the next 12 months (or alternatively, for the next financial year) of
(a) Future development of the project software and webpages?
(b) Maintenance, repair and/or replacement of project-related hardware?
(c) The running costs of the project, itemising seperately: (i) the cost of the bandwidth likely to be
consumed by streaming (based upon the latest evidence of current trends in bandwidth growth);
(ii) licensing fees paid to third parties (including to Adobe or Microsoft) for proprietory technology
used in the project; and (iii) other related costs?”
Question 1
The BBC iPlayer project has total incremental development costs of £4.8 million over four years
until the end of the current financial year in March 2011 and is built on the BBC’s continually
developing technical infrastructure.
The incremental cost to maintain the BBC iPlayer is approximately £4 million per annum and
includes transferring programmes into web formats, providing metadata about the programmes, as
well as editorial oversight, support costs etc.
Further information can be found in the BBC’s Online Service Licence at this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/service_licences/online/online
_servicelicences/bbc_online_aug09.pdf
Please note we do not hold information by calendar year – the above information is based on
financial years ending 31st March.
a) The BBC does not hold information relating to costs associated with the development of flash-
based software used on the BBC iPlayer since its launch in December 2007. This is because the
BBC iPlayer is one of a number of services using the BBC’s embedded media player (“EMP”).
The EMP forms part of the BBC’s continually developing technical infrastructure and is used
for short-form video and audio content delivery elsewhere on the BBC’s website such as
bbc.co.uk/news and bbc.co.uk/archive. Costs are incurred for the EMP as a whole rather than
its use by distinct services.
(i)
For the reasons explained above, internal BBC employees work as part of the EMP team
rather than solely on software development for the BBC iPlayer and, consequently,
separate costs for such staff are not held by the BBC.
(ii)
For the reasons explained above, the BBC does not hold historical data on whether
external software consultants have specifically worked on the BBC iPlayer and,
consequently, does not hold information on the costs incurred as a result of such work.
(iii)
The BBC confirms that it holds information relating to the licence fees contracted for
proprietary technology used by the BBC iPlayer. However, we will not be providing you
with this information as we consider it exempt under Section 43(2)(commercial interests)
of the Act for the reasons set out below.
b) The BBC iPlayer was developed in stages over a number of years. Initially, the BBC developed
the Interactive Media Player (“iMP”). This was followed by the myBBCplayer, the trial for
which completed in June 2006. From June 2006 to November 2006 the BBC iPlayer Beta was
developed with limited functionality & user access. In November 2006 BBC launched a limited
user access version. Then during November 2006 to July 2007 the BBC developed the beta
version of the BBC iPlayer with a walled garden access. In July 2007 the BBC iPlayer Beta was
launched. During July 2007 to December 2007 the BBC developed the full BBC iPlayer service.
In December 2007 the BBC publicly launched the BBC iPlayer service.
The BBC does not hold separate costs for each of the above phases of the evolution of the
BBC iPlayer or for specific versions such as the Windows Media version. However, we can
confirm that the BBC spent £5.7 million in setting up the BBC iPlayer prior its launch.
(i)
Internal BBC employees did not work solely on non-Flash software development for the
BBC iPlayer and, therefore, separate costs for such staff are not held by the BBC.
(ii)
The BBC does not hold historical data on whether external software consultants have
specifically worked on the non-Flash software development for the BBC iPlayer and,
therefore, does not hold information on the costs incurred as a result of such work.
(iii)
The BBC confirms that it holds information relating to the licence fees contracted for
proprietary technology used by the BBC iPlayer. However, we will be withholding this
information under Section 43(2)(commercial interests) of the Act for the reasons set out
below.
Information regarding the Radio Player is as follows:
i)
The BBC does not hold historical data relating to the costs of developing the original BBC
Radio Player, which launched in 2002. When the Version 2 build was undertaken prior to
launch in January 2005, it used existing BBC internal designer, client side developer and
software engineering resource. Not all of these staff worked exclusively on the Radio
Player and, as a consequence, separate costs are not held for work on the Radio Player.
The BBC Radio Player had no subsequent public beta versions.
ii)
The BBC does not hold information on whether external consultants were employed on
the BBC Radio Player prior to 2005, and no external consultants were employed on the
project after this date.
iii)
The BBC confirms that it holds information relating to the licence fees contracted for
proprietary technology used by the BBC Radio Player. However, we will be withholding
this information under Section 43(2)(commercial interests) of the Act for the reasons set
out below.
c) (i), (ii)
The BBC does not hold historical data in the form you have requested. This is because the
BBC uses a combination of elements such as shared infrastructure and a managed service
for web serving and other hardware for streaming, and information is not held on a service
by service basis.
The streaming element of the BBC iPlayer is delivered under the BBC’s Technology
Framework Contract (“TFC”) with Siemens (the BBC’s principal technology supplier). We
confirm that information relating to the provision of these services by Siemens is held by
the BBC, but that the BBC will not be providing you with this information as we consider it
to be exempt under section 43(2)(commercial interests) of the Act for the reasons set out
below.
(iii) It is not clear to which specific costs you are referring. If you would like to provide details
of the specific information you are seeking, we would be happy to consider your request.
Question 2
a) As explained in our response to question 1 above, the BBC iPlayer project has total incremental
development costs of £4.8 million over four years until the end of the current financial year in
2011.
b) As explained in our response to question 1 c) above, the BBC uses a combination of elements
such as shared infrastructure and a managed service for web serving and other hardware for
streaming, and information is not held on a service by service basis. The BBC does not, therefore,
hold such information specifically in relation to the BBC iPlayer.
c)
(i)
Please see the answer to question 1(c)(i) and (ii) above.
(ii)
The BBC confirms that it holds information relating to the licence fees contracted for
proprietary technology used by the BBC iPlayer. However, we will be withholding this information
under Section 43(2)(commercial interests) of the Act for the reasons set out below.
(iii)
It is not clear to which specific costs you are referring. If you would like to provide details
of the specific information you are seeking, we would be happy to consider your request.
Section 43(2)(commercial interests)
In accordance with section 1(1) of the Act, we confirm that the BBC holds information relating to
the TFC and to licence fees for technology used in connection with the BBC iPlayer. However,
we will not be providing you with this information as we consider it to be exempt under section
43(2)(commercial interests)of the Act because disclosure would be likely to prejudice the
commercial interests of both the BBC and third party suppliers including Siemens by disclosing
information that would be likely to:
• weaken the BBC’s bargaining position with suppliers of goods and services;
• have a detrimental impact on the potential commercial revenue of suppliers in the wider
market;
• weaken the BBC’s and supplier’s position in a competitive environment by revealing market
sensitive information or information of potential usefulness to competitors;
• harm the ability of the BBC to obtain goods and services in the future;
• harm the ability of suppliers to provide goods and services in the future.
As section 43 is a qualified exemption, in accordance with section 2(2) of the Act, we have
considered the public interest factors in this case, specifically, whether in all the circumstances of
the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in
disclosing the information.
In favour of disclosure, we recognised that there is a public interest in the following:
• that there is transparency in the accountability of the BBC for public funds;
• that the BBC is using public money effectively, and that the BBC is getting value for money
when purchasing goods and services;
• that the BBC’s commercial activities are conducted in an open and honest way.
On the other hand, in considering factors that might weigh in favour of the public interest in
withholding, we took into account:
• that companies provide the BBC with commercially sensitive information, so that the BBC
is able to make robust decisions regarding its suppliers of goods and services, including
ensuring that the BBC obtains the best value for money from each transaction;
• that the BBC maintains a strong bargaining position vis-à-vis suppliers during contractual
negotiations in order to ensure that the licence fee is spent effectively;
• that the competitive position of companies in their particular market is not disadvantaged
by doing business with the BBC. It would not be in the public interest to disclose sensitive
information about a particular company if that information would be likely to be used by
competitors to gain a competitive advantage.
We are satisfied, in terms of section 2 of the Act, that in all the circumstances of this case, the
public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information.
We hope you find this information useful.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior
manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at the address above, explaining what you would like us
to review and including your reference number. If you are not satisfied with the internal review,
you can appeal to the Information Commissioner. The contact details are: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone
01625 545 700 or see
http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Yours sincerely
L. Stiller
Legal and Business Affairs Manager
Future Media & Technology
