BBC Presents An Open News Archive

Cus writes "The BBC have opened a section of their news archive under a Creative Archive license. Nearly 80 items covering the last 50 years are available, with the full list available on their site. Paul Gerhardt the project director of the Creative Archive License Group, from the official announcement: 'The BBC's telling of those stories is part of our heritage, and now that the UK public have the chance to share and keep them we're keen to know how they will be used.'"

Nice...

[jmcmunn]

The BBC certainly has the right idea with the sharing of information and history. Here in the US we seem to be much more wrapped up in who owns the rights to something and how to make money from it. The BBC on the other hand seems to be putting as much as possible into the hands of the public, making it easier for people to get to the information we all deserve to be able to see. According to what I read on the site, all they ask is that you not commercialize it, and give credit for where it came from. Seems fair to me! Nice job BBC.

Re:What about the rest of us

[gowen]

Given the BBC has a definite worldwide presence, would it not make sense for them to open it up to other countries as well? It's a bizarre choice

I imagine that, at least partially, it's a rights issue. For example, the BBC have the rights to the 1966 World Cup for broadcast within the UK, but not worldwide.

Re:Wikimedia

[arron_donaldson]

Can this be added to wikimedia ?

No. It's not really an open license at all. For one thing it forbids commercial use. And it's limited to the UK! In my eyes this constitutes an abuse of the word "open".

Re:What about the rest of us

[Bogtha]

Given the BBC has a definite worldwide presence, would it not make sense for them to open it up to other countries as well?

The rest of the world don't pay a TV license that funds the BBC. The UK public do.

If I remember correctly, they are forced to do it this way because of the way that their charter is written. It's really not that bizarre when you think about it - the BBC acts in the UK public's interests - by selling their content to foreign countries instead of giving it away, they are reducing the cost of the license fee for the UK public.

Re:What about the rest of us

[hug_the_penguin]

I disagree. They could allow the public in other countries access and demand certain uses be licenced, that would be a much fairer system. In any case, how many people are going to go find a UK proxy after reading this article?

Re:What about the rest of us

[swab79]

The problem is that there are many people in the UK who would love to end the TV license system of funding the BBC. Giving away content to non-paying foreigners would only give those people more ammunition.

Re:What about the rest of us

[LordSnooty]

And the rest of us don't?

Pffft. Please send £126.50 to the BBC, Wood Lane, London and we might let you have access for a year.