BBC testing Group Record - Series Link on steroids

New service coming 2012

The BBC has teased us with a new feature that its aiming to launch in time for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Called Group Record, the new feature will allow users to record a group of programmes in a similar way to how Series Link works. However, rather than just setting your PVR to record shows that are part of series, it will allow users to record a group of shows that have all been tied together by the broadcaster, like the Olympics, for example.

“It will make it easier to record a group of programmes rather than just a series,” the BBC’s director of distribution, Alix Pryde, told Pocket-lint and a group of industry execs at this year’s FutureSource conference in London. “It will allow the broadcaster to record a selection of programmes around a specific group that are editorially driven.”

So hot off the press (slides of how it will look had to be removed from the presentation)?Pryde also suggested that it would be technically possible for the system to work across broadcasters, like the BBC and ITV, suggesting fans of the Euro 2012 football tournament would be able to set their recorders to capture all the games regardless of channel.

Talking up other possible options, Pryde also commented that, “there is no reason why we couldn’t take it down to segment data within a programme, like swimming.” In this instance, you would be able to record only the gymnastics, for example, that appear within a larger, more generic Olympics broadcast.

That’s a dramatic shift in what is currently available, and could open up a whole host of content that’s automatically recorded to your box, be it by selected by presenters, topics, a movie series, or something else.

Pryde says that the BBC has already created a prototype with Samsung that’s working, and fully expects that it'll meet its 2012 deadline for the full service.

Tags: Home Cinema BBC Samsung Sky Virgin Media PVRs

BBC testing Group Record - Series Link on steroids originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:41:00 +0100

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