The BBC aims to transform the way it produces programmes
over the next six years, replacing tapes and editing suites with
digital technology on desktop PCs.
By the end of decade, the BBC plans to introduce 20,000 "creative
desktops". Information and images will be digitised, allowing
journalists and production staff to make programmes and search the
archive using software on a standard desktop PC.
Currently, radio and TV content is stored on tape, which can make
transferring and storing information time-consuming.
The BBC has already used digital technology to produce the sequel
to natural history series The Blue Planet, which will be aired
early next year, and to produce news programmes.
The software at the heart of the new approach was developed by BBC
Technology and German company Aist.
"This is a completely decentralised form and federalised
environment," said BBC chief technology officer John Varney, who
described the shift as a transformation of the way the BBC works,
rather than simply a technology project.
"You will still need editing and graphic suites, but in a lot of
cases you will make the programmes on your desktop," he said. "The
challenge is to make the technology invisible to the end-user.
Whenever you have a delay moving a file or image to the desktop, it
ceases to be invisible. When you create a digital world, you expect
things instantly."
The digital system will have to store a vast amount of data - the
BBC's broadcasts create about 13Tbytes of data every week.