What's On Is Off
Some of you may have already noticed the big red banner on our What's On site announcing that, after almost a decade of sterling service the current website is finally being retired and a whole new range of programme discovery sites and services (e.g. TV, Radio 2) are popping up all over BBC Online.
What's On was designed as a website to provide information to help people find programmes on the BBC's other scheduled platforms - TV and Radio. Its limitations therefore became obvious with on demand developments such as red button and of course the iPlayer. Also, the What's On pages expired after 24 hours which was frustrating for users wanting to find information from a past schedule or programme.
We're not replacing it with a like-for-like service but with a range of new entry points to BBC programming all based on our programme information platform - PiPs. We are providing easily navigable schedules for all TV & Radio services for seven days ahead and as far back as PiPs data exists for all the BBC's output, from BBC One East Midlands to Radio 1 and into the past and all at nicely hackable URLs.
We haven't quite sorted out how best to offer a mulit-channel "grid" view of the schedule but we are working on it and would welcome your views.
Last time I closed something down on BBC Online I was described as a cow which caused my mother to splutter over her morning coffee. I've warned her that I'm closing something down again...
Sophie Walpole is a Portfolio Executive, BBC Online
Comment number 1.
At 14:15 2nd Dec 2008, Hymagumba wrote:is that the right link to the messageboard up at the top? that's a thread about the removal of whatson from freeview's red button
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Comment number 2.
At 14:31 2nd Dec 2008, Stuart Ian Burns wrote:Are there plans -- is it possible -- to include a link to the relevant mini-site elsewhere at bbc.co.uk? For example this:
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gbbl0
doesn't link to this...
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/drama/larkrise/
and this...
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009lv7b
doesn't link directly to it either, just this:
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/drama/classicandperiod
which only includes current programming.
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Comment number 3.
At 15:21 2nd Dec 2008, Ed Lyons wrote:Most new series seem to be linked into their /programmes page...
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Comment number 4.
At 16:03 2nd Dec 2008, adr3988 wrote:Sophie - closing What's On is certainly not Cow-worthy! I think anyone who had used that service in the last year could see it was far out-dated in comparison to current BBC offerings. (Web 0.1, perhaps?)
On a tangent, are there any plans for the BBC to hook up archive programme information into the current /programmes architecture? I know information on a TV show from a few decades back which I found on the trial of the BBC's Programme Catalogue formed vital research for me on an old Polish Displacement Camp in Devon last year. It would be wonderful to see /programmes cover the last few decades and not just 2007 onwards!
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Comment number 5.
At 17:28 2nd Dec 2008, Ed Lyons wrote:adr3988: Yes, there are plans for that, I believe. It's been mentioned a few times over the last year or so. I'd guess that's something we may see next year.
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Comment number 6.
At 19:35 2nd Dec 2008, Jonathan Tweed wrote:@Stuart Ian Burns
Related links are already there for some programmes. We're working to increase the number and types of links on the pages over the next couple of months.
@adr3988
Keep your eyes peeled. Getting the archive into PIPs and onto /programmes is non-trivial, but we are working on it.
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Comment number 7.
At 19:52 2nd Dec 2008, Stuart Ian Burns wrote:Thanks @jtweed!
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Comment number 8.
At 20:26 2nd Dec 2008, gibraltar2 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 9.
At 23:36 2nd Dec 2008, Paul Webster wrote:Damn.
I was using those pages as source to automatically generate listings of BBC local radio - which are being used a stack of people around the country.
https://forums.digiguide.com/topic.asp?id=15834
https://community.digiguide.com/default.asp?th=channels
So - looks like a week-end job coming up to do it all again.
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Comment number 10.
At 03:35 3rd Dec 2008, lucas42 wrote:The BBC's website seems to be becoming more segmented, with more and more things being divided into channels.
Each schedule is now on its channel's page, the new live tv streams are on channels' individual pages and much of iplayer is sorted by channel. Even the urls of pages reflect this; the radio 2 schedule is found at /radio2/programmes/schedules rather than/programmes/schedules/radio2 (which I think would make a lot more sense)
As people watch/listen to 'real' television and radio less and less, and use online more and more, the whole concept of 'channels' is becoming less relevant.
There seems to be quite a bit of talk about "channel identity" at the moment, but I think that the BBC's identity should come foremost - channels are just a handy way of scheduling two things at once.
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Comment number 11.
At 08:14 3rd Dec 2008, Paul Webster wrote:Problem with new pages compared to "What's On" ... the schedules overlap.
i.e. days start at midnight but continue until 3am
please make it midnight-midnight or start new day 05:00
e.g.
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/6music/programmes/schedules/2008/12/04
or ... raw XML version of listings with no overlaps INCLUDING all BBC local radio.
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Comment number 12.
At 09:41 3rd Dec 2008, Briantist wrote:#2 just add to the programme's URL
/microsite
to get to the microsite for any programme, for example
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gbbl0/microsite
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Comment number 13.
At 13:25 3rd Dec 2008, RobertWilliams76 wrote:I note that now local radio has appeared in the Programmes website, it does not acknowledge opt-outs within stations. For example the Southern Counties Radio listings appear rather biased in favour of Sussex, with the Surrey breakfast and drivetime shows not included at all; the same is true for the breakfast opt-outs on Three Counties Radio and Radio Cambridgeshire.
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Comment number 14.
At 20:27 3rd Dec 2008, adr3988 wrote:@Ed Lyons, jtweed:
Thanks a lot. I'll look forward to a blog post when that gets under way!
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Comment number 15.
At 21:16 3rd Dec 2008, thepotus wrote:"We haven't quite sorted out how best to offer a mulit-channel "grid" view of the schedule but we are working on it and would welcome your views."
Here's a radical idea: just bring back the old "What's On" site. It worked. It wasn't festooned with pointless photos and "Don't miss" exhortations. It didn't plug BBC Tours or offer a link about how to pay the licence fee. It credited its users with sufficient intelligence to make up their own minds. It wasn't shouty or in yer face. It just did its job. No place for something like that in today's BBC, I suppose.
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Comment number 16.
At 08:34 4th Dec 2008, wildblackwitch wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 17.
At 16:15 4th Dec 2008, blueBluepeople wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 18.
At 17:53 4th Dec 2008, Paul Webster wrote:#17 - while no doubt important - is not relevant to this particular blog entry.
Update required to list BBC local radio and World Service into the list at
https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes
Another annoying difference when compared to "What's On" - only providing 1-2 line synopsis.
If there a modifier available to the URL (e.g. reallyfulldetails) ?
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Comment number 19.
At 18:38 4th Dec 2008, Jonathan Tweed wrote:@RobertWilliams76
I've passed your comment on to the people that do the scheduling.
@adr3988
I'll get my pen out ;-)
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Comment number 20.
At 18:36 5th Dec 2008, Jonathan Tweed wrote:@RobertWilliams76
I've talked to the people from Nations and Regions and they've said that they will look into the possibility of offering the regional variations of the schedules.
The schedules that have been made available are the same as what was in What's On and relate to the single variant of the station that is available to listen to online.
Cheers
Jonathan
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Comment number 21.
At 07:51 6th Dec 2008, Paul McLaughlin wrote:I currently use the Sky TV guide at Sky.com which has quite a few limitations. One good thing about that service is that you can select programmes to record on your Sky plus box. This would be good to incorporate into the BBC one although I appreciate there may be (political, rights etc) issues with that. The grid should allow you to build your own portfolio of channels, and not just BBC ones. You should be able to make use of the largest amount of screen space for the TV guide. Again the Sky one only allow you to use less than half of the screen to view the guide. Recommendations would also be useful based on what programmes you have viewed or accessed via the site - not sure how this would link into TV viewing.
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Comment number 22.
At 09:46 6th Dec 2008, gertvb wrote:What was wrong with the old Whats On. You have now forced me to go to ITV - They still have a similar facility which I can tweak to my needs!
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Comment number 23.
At 13:12 9th Dec 2008, Paul Webster wrote:Any chance of some feedback regarding my last 2 posts #11 and #18 ?
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Comment number 24.
At 10:13 15th Dec 2008, Sue_Aitch wrote:10% of programmes have to have Audio Description and 5% Sign Language Interpretation according to the Ofcom Targets.
With the demise of the Equivalent on Red Button of Ceefax pages 601-609 telling viewers What's On Today and the details pages on BBC One pages 631-635 and BBC Two page 646-649 only being avialable on the EPG now for digital viewers, there seems to be no place online or on digital for at a glance listings for programmes made accessible for viewers and listeners with sensory disabilities.
Could there be the equivalent of Ceefax page 358's Sport Listing page now written up online on Red Button an replacing current Ceefax pages 646-649 for SL and AD Access Services?
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Comment number 25.
At 07:06 9th Sep 2009, felicioo wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 26.
At 10:06 13th Sep 2009, U14134634 wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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