Re: Platform Monogamy

I know this has been rehearsed a thousand times elsewhere but...

> to watch BBC Terrestrial Broadcasts I have to purchase a 625-Line PAL receiver

yes, that's right, anybody can make one to published standards - gives us consumers a choice of who to buy from, a chance of competition amongst suppliers

> I can't watch on a US-made NTSC set,

... nor a British-made one ...

> I can't watch on a French SECAM set,

... nor an Asian one ... but you could watch on a PAL set made by one of a number of Asian manufacturers

> Yet no one finds this odd.

What are you saying here, exactly?

> To view the iPlayer BETA, I have to own (or buy) a specific computing platform

... yes, made by one supplier, legally protected. Dependent upon that supplier's products at a price of their choosing. And using a specification of theirs, it appears. Where is the choice in that? Where is the competition that keeps prices under control for all of us? Not arising from the iPlayer as far as I can see, unless you have a compelling argument otherwise.

> What's changed??

People at last beginning to notice that their licence money is being misused in a big way?