BBC as a Digital Music Store

BBC as a Digital Music Store

Everyone from Virgin to Microsoft to Sony to Napster wants to be the challenger to the domination of Apple Computers to become a popular digital music store. The latest entrant into this market is however quite a surprising one. Now, BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has decided that it wants to become a major player in this market with their own digital music store offering music for downloads.

The publicly funded broadcaster is currently testing its MyBBCPlayer, which would let its users to download the TV shows and radio programming on their portable music players to listen. They would be making use of the brand name they have to get a huge user base within a small period of time. They have in competition some of the biggest names in the market like Yahoo! and Google.

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said in a statement: “Everything we know about the online world suggests that it’s the big brands the eBays, the Amazons and the Microsofts that punch through, and the BBC is one of the big brands.” He was addressing a gathering at the Edinburgh Television Festival. They already have the advantage of having the fifth most popular website in the UK and plan to make use of it for their digital store plans.

The broadcaster plans to start with a trial incorporating parts of MyBBCPlayer next month, with a full rollout in 2006.