back to article BT scoops £100m network provision deal from the BBC

The BBC has picked BT to provide its internal network, in a £100m deal that will run for the next seven years. The broadcaster estimated the deal will save it tens of millions of pounds and will provide extra network capacity for major events. The deal will begin in April 2017, with the option of extending the contract for a …

  1. Blitheringeejit
    Facepalm

    Couldn't be worse

    I was going to ask how Auntie can possibly expect to get good service from a rival content provider - presumably BT's shareholders will ensure that BT's own subscribed sporting streams will prioritised over those of customers like the BBC when being transmitted across BT-operated infrastructure.

    But then I noticed "The current broadcast network is provided by Vodafone UK through the BBC’s principal technology services provider, Atos.". So things can only get better...

    1. ukgnome

      Re: Couldn't be worse

      Ahh that's a simple mistake to make, you thought it was BT that was providing the service but in fact it turned out to be BT, if they hadn't of succeeded then in all likelihood it would of been BT but not that BT the other BT. As it turned out it was BT that got the job.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Couldn't of been worse

        Thanks for that, feel free to come back when you've picked up on the difference between would of (etc) and would have (etc).

        Anyone with qualifications like that wouldn't of got any job anybody I know of was ever recruiting for.

        Have a lovely weekend.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          WTF?

          Re: Couldn't of been worse

          "Anyone with qualifications like that wouldn't of got any job anybody I know of was ever recruiting for"

          Pardon?

      2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Headmaster

        Re: Couldn't be worse

        "if they hadn't of succeeded"

        "If they hadn't have succeeded" would also be incorrect.

    2. Terry Barnes

      Re: Couldn't be worse

      "BT's own subscribed sporting streams will prioritised over those of customers like the BBC when being transmitted across BT-operated infrastructure."

      I'm no expert on these things, but I'd be fairly surprised if they propose to run the BBC's production broadcast network over their consumer broadband service.

      1. Blitheringeejit
        Flame

        Re: Couldn't be worse

        Decades of bitter experience have taught me never to be surprised, fairly or otherwise, by the practices of Brutal Telecom.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      BBC NEEDS to outsource

      They so obviously can't be trusted to deliver these kind of projects themselves, it needs to be outsourced and kept out of their meddling hands.

  2. Franco

    Saying BT is better than Vodafone/Atos is a bit like saying rabies is better than botulism. And of course large outsourced public sector IT contracts are a shining beacon of success in this country historically...

  3. KingStephen

    If my experience is typical.....

    ...they will soon be getting plagued by calls from "Mary" in "BT Technical support", "hello I am calling to upgrade your BT line, please will you switch on your computer......"

    Once a day for me at the very least!

  4. Disgruntled of TW
    WTF?

    What's with ...

    the phrase "former monopoly"? Their carrier network will backhaul the beeb traffic and we'll all struggle with unreliable FTTC, except for the last 5% of rural folk who will never be offered FTTC from Openreach, cough, BT.

    This is a monopoly. There is no other word for it.

  5. Bob H

    C&W

    The contract used to be what was a facility that C&W set up as part of the Siemens outsourcing deal after BBC Technology was sold to Siemens. The national fibre network was part of the contract to connect every BBC location and largely about moving uncompressed video about. The London connectivity was a separate contract where huge quantities of dark fibre were on long-term lease and that preceded outsourcing.

    BT has always provided video connectivity to broadcasters, they host the main neutral video switch at BT Tower that just about everyone uses. To conflate this as being an IT outsourcing contract is to confuse video with IT and the provision is very different.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: C&W

      Upvote for you as someone who actually knows what he talking about - unlike some of the other posters here.

  6. Commswonk

    What goes around, comes around...

    Some on here may be surprised to learn that for most of its life the BBC rented its circuits around the country from the GPO and then from BT when it was privatised.

    The "big change" was in the 1990s when the contract was due for renewal and (IIRC) BT thought it had the BBC over a barrel and increased its prices by a very large factor. As a result Energis got the contract for a (fibre) network, at which point which we were all treated to the sight of fibre optic cables being wound around the earth wires between the tops of electricity pylons with the winding gear powered by twin lawn - mower engines.

    At some point Energis "failed" and C & W bought and operated the network for the BBC.

    So there is a long mutual and generally satisfactory history between the two organisations, although I rather doubt if there is anyone left in either who can remember the "good old days".

    Nostalgia certainly isn't what it used to be...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh God...

    Asking BT to run your network is like asking Jimmy Saville to look after your kids for the weekend.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like