Bbc.co.uk

. In addition, where rights to sporting events (such as certain football or cricket matches) do not include international online coverage, users from outside the UK are blocked from listening to commentaries.

In defence of its open policy, the BBC's site is primarily hosted from two locations [ [http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/network/ Internet Services - Service Information] BBC Internet Services] , New York and London. The London site is funded from the licence fee and the New York server is funded through a series of government grants (similar to the BBC World Service) and not directly by the licence feeFact|date=March 2008. However those grants do ultimately come from the British public.

Graf report

In early 2004, the site was made the focus of a government review, launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, led by Philip Graf. Sections of the UK internet industry had argued that the BBC site offered things that were available in the commercial sector, creating unnecessary competition.

The review was published in July 2004 and it was recommended that the BBC "prioritise news, current affairs, education and information which is of value to the citizen." In response the BBC also shut down a small number of sections of the site, including the Soaps section.

In November 2004, the Governors of the BBC announced a newer, much more tightly drawn remit for bbc.co.uk as part of their response to the review. They also announced, as Graf had recommended, a new approach towards external providers which will see bbc.co.uk aiming to spend at least 25% of its eligible budget on content and services through independent commissions by the end of 2006/07.

The implementation of the Graf report has seen the popular messageboards in the BBC Sport section shut down, as the BBC tries to promote its 606 brand, but these changes have proved unpopular as the interface has proven unusable and large numbers of content providers have abandoned the BBC siteFact|date=March 2008.

Cult TV

From 1999 to 2005, the BBC ran a popular subsite called "Cult TV". This subsite had news, star interviews, trivia, and other content popular with fans of the cult TV shows they covered. Examples of covered TV shows include "The X-Files", "Doctor Who", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Farscape" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

On 15 July 2005, the BBC announced that the site was closing as of the end of the month, although the "Doctor Who" section would be unaffected as the series was an ongoing BBC concern. The announcement explained that this was "part of the restructuring of the BBC's online activities". It was promised that some of the content would be moved to new places on bbc.co.uk, although as of March 2008 it is currently still all online at the no-longer-updated Cult site.

Vulnerabilities in the system

In March 2007, a vulnerability was exposed in the BBC's "Most Emailed" and "Most Read" news sections. [Statistics Hacking - Exploiting Vulnerabilities in NewsWebsites [http://paper.ijcsns.org/07_book/200703/20070348.pdf PDF] , Amrinder Arora, International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, Vol.7 No.3, March 2007] This vulnerability continues to exist in the system as of January 2008.Fact|date=September 2008

References

* [http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article1219009.ece Latest on plans for bbc.co.uk including archive]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3866355.stm Summary of results of Graf Review]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/policies/online_review.shtml BBC's response to Graf review]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/04_april/14/pod.shtml Press release] concerning radio podcasting and download trials
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/05_may/16/imp.shtml Press release] announcing extended trial of iMP

ee also

*BBC News Online
*BBC Guide to Comedy
*BBC Green

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk BBC Homepage] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/homearchive BBC Home Archive] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://support.bbc.co.uk/support/ Engineering Data] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://backstage.bbc.co.uk Backstage] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk Creative Archive] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/ BBC Commissioning] at bbc.co.uk
* [http://www.bbcshop.com BBC Shop]