UK ISPs to decide on BBC’s iPlayer

With the unveiling of BBC’s iPlayer last month, it seems UK broadband providers could do some kind of traffic shaping if BBC does not come forward to share the cost of their networks which are used by its iPlayer. This view has been considered by a few ISPs in UK, as allowing such streaming videos over their network could slow down the internet access speeds considerably. During the peak hours, the impact will be felt more severely as these services consume greater part of the bandwidth over the line.

Tiscali, one of the major ISPs in UK is the first to raise the issue as its CEO warned other ISPs that the slow down of internet speed due to BBC’s iplayers’ viewers would make many broadband customers to complain to their ISPs.

Before BBC launched its iPlayer, UK already saw other online TV services cropping up like ITV and Channel 4 and Joost. These companies did not cause so much stir as BBC has done as BBC is obviously the most popular television not only in UK but worldwide. Other ISPs like BT and AOL also expressed their fears over the strain that their servers would experience when iPlayer becomes the greatest hit in UK online TV service. It seems a few ISPs have already been discussing this issue with BBC over sharing the cost of networks that become the platform for the iPlayer. The CEO of Tiscali said the company might involve in some kind of traffic shaping if the talks with BBC did not turn out to be successful.

It is yet to be seen, how the online television broadcast can affect the internet speeds as the download usage limit or fair usage policies already restrict the users from accessing internet for indefinite time.