Commission decision shows BBC out of touch on iPlayer

For immediate release

17 September 2007

COMMISSION DECISION SHOWS BBC OUT OF TOUCH ON IPLAYER

The Open Rights Group today welcomed the judgment of the European Court of First Instance to essentially uphold the European Commission’s decision that Microsoft abused its dominant market position.

The Open Rights Group (ORG) today welcomed the judgment of the European Court of First Instance to essentially uphold the European Commission’s decision that Microsoft abused its dominant market position.

But ORG warned that the decision highlighted their concerns around the BBC’s Microsoft-only media player, the iPlayer.

Becky Hogge, Open Rights Group Executive Director, said: “ORG welcomes the Court’s decision, which is good news for consumers and business alike. This decision is especially relevant now since, thanks to increasing bandwidth capacity, on-demand media is becoming a reality for more and more people. In order to ensure that consumers are benefiting from innovation and getting the best deal, we need more than one company supplying media player software. In particular, today’s decision casts a different light on the decision of the BBC to offer their on-demand viewing exclusively to users of Microsoft software.”

Becky Hogge is available for interview. Please call 0207 7096 1079 in the first instance.

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>>About the Open Rights Group<<

The Open Rights Group is a digital rights advocacy group based in the UK. It aims to increase awareness of digital rights issues, help foster grassroots activity and preserve civil liberties and consumer rights in the digital age.