Did you know that if you have a computer at work connected to the Internet then it’s possible that you might need a TV licence? This would even apply if you were using your laptop or mobile phone in the office and it was plugged into the mains, because once it is, then it’s no longer covered by your home licence. If however you don’t use your computer or phone to stream live TV then you are exempt, but how the TV licence bods determine whether you do or don’t, I don’t know.

This law just strikes me as a nonsense. As an employer, unless I find some way of restricting my staff from accessing live TV streams then it would seem clear that I’d need to buy one just in case one of my team decides one day to catch the latest on a breaking news story, rather than focussing on their miggly endeavours!

The thing is, it was never ‘our’ decision, as business owners, for broadcasters to start streaming TV content online. It’s inevitable that they would and I’m really glad that they do, but then to decide that this now means businesses need a TV licence too places just another unnecessary cost on firms.

On Radio 5live this morning they had some chap on from the licensing gestapo and he said the process for catching unlicensed businesses involves sending out letters, and then if these are ignored, visiting the premises with a view to proving that computers are being used for this. I really wonder how they’re going to get this proof. Unless they actually catch someone in the act of watching a live TV stream, I don’t think they can have any actual rights to start looking at the histories of browsers on machines, or to demand business owners demonstrate how they restrict this content from being viewed.

Of course, they make out they will catch you, and, of course, they don’t disclose how. But I don’t think there is a how which is definitive enough to stand up against all arguments, although by maintaining this stance proprietors and directors will of course just get the licence anyway. Which of course we all should, if its the law – and let’s be clear here, I’m not advocating we break it either. That doesn’t change the fact though that its a stupid law, and the confusion over it is just another reason why convergence of media makes it harder to keep the licence system running. TV licenses will go the same way as Radio ones… In general, if a law is easy to understand, then it’s a law that makes sense. Murder is against the law. Easy. When laws are shrouded in confusion, it generally a sign that it’s a lousy law, which has, at best, a tenuous reason for existence. In this instance, as an additional tax on businesses.

If a licence fee is justified for being able to watch broadcast TV on a PC, then maybe the TV Licence authority should ask to get a law passed which makes all broadcasters have to run a pre-roll message before any TV stream which states the need for a licence. Or even to check your right to watch that sort of content via some kind of database and a sniffer that determines location, hardware type and if its connected to the mains or not. The point being, somehow, on an open web, it needs to be made crystal clear to users when they are just about to break the law.

Of course this won’t happen, but until then, I don’t think any business need fear a visit – but if you do get a knock, pull your power lead out of your phones and laptops, use Safari with Private Browsing turned on to stream your content on all other PCs – and if they demand to look at your PC’s settings to see what you’ve been up to just refuse.

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

I’m not at all sure it is. I’d say, from the BBC’s point of view it’s a great distribution deal. But if I were trying to provide a competitive service, I’d really wonder how I was able to compete. What are ITN supposed to do in the face of this? Give their content away? Maybe they won’t even be able to give it away. For example, if I was head of content at one of the newspapers which is now aggregating BBC video, why would I need ITN’s content? And, if to compete, ITN needs the distribution, then surely it pays newspapers for it.

I would have also have thought that the BBC’s intention to make its content available to other UK based websites isn’t something it’s chosen to do. I’d say it’s something in which it has no choice. What it gives away free to the big four groups it has done today, surely it has to do for everyone – nationals, regionals, TV, radio and mobile. If I start up miggle news tomorrow, surely I’d be entitled to it too?

Don’t get me wrong. I think the BBC is magic. Its content is fantastic and it does some brilliant things online. It’s got a fantastic, well known and trusted brand. We all own it, we all know where to find it. That to me is all there should be to it.

In terms of content there is only really, in the UK, one credible competitor to the BBC. The newspapers that are associated with that group, who’ve recently suggested that their content online is something they might charge for, were not included in today’s announcement. Why is that I wonder?

Based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.

Back in December miggle.co.uk teamed up with Brighton Music Scene to produce a short video interview with up and coming New Wave band, Transformer.

The brief was to create a professionally edited piece that used multiple camera angles, made use of the band’s music video and was punchy and modern in style.

Filming took place in Brighton’s PoNaNa club – a perfect setting. We filmed using a professional set up of three cameras, one fixed, one in front and one roaming. Thanks are due to Lee who directed and edited the film.

The results do speak for themselves and act as a great showcase for what miggle.co.uk can do with this medium and we hope to create more engaging, exciting video content soon.

Based in the UK’s silicon city – Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, contact miggle.co.uk for website development, content management and online media services in the UK and worldwide.