BBC Two leads broadband revolution with live TV on internet

LONDON – Internet users will be able to watch live Ricky Gervais' 'Extras', 'Newsnight' and 'Top of the Pops' from next year as BBC Two aims to head the broadband revolution with simultaneous internet and TV broadcasts.

Roly Keating, controller of BBC Two, said certain shows will be simulcast from next year subject to approval.

"Whatever the broadband revolution means for audiences and channels, we intend to be there, in the frontline," Keating told audiences at the Broadcast Commissioning Conference, held in Manchester this week.

The pilot is to be unveiled next year alongside a new programme-on-demand initiative through MyBBCPlayer, the service that will allow licence-fee payers to download TV programmes online.

It will feature a host of content such as on-demand versions of BBC programmes from the previous seven days and an "ever-expanding" proportion of the BBC archive.

BBC director general Mark Thompson unveiled the MyBBCPlayer scheme at the Edinburgh TV festival in August.

The corporation will partner with online sites Google and Autonomy to develop the sites.

Keating also revealed that the corporation will be "radically" updating its websites to include a great deal more broadband content next year to meet the "growing expectations" of audiences.

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