Adobe’s Flash fallout with Apple delays launch of ABC’s iView app on the iPad

Rumours have it that this new iPad may have the power to run a Flash interpreter;
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Seriously, why do we need an iPad version of iView when they cannot get geo-coding done correctly which adheres to the ABC charter? People overseas cannot see *any* iView content – not even news and current affairs.

ABC should stop trying to be cool and follow their charter to deliver content correctly.

How did the ABC start development on the iPad app with a direction on using Flash?! Nothing against Flash but it’s been public knowledge that it wouldn’t run on iPad for months. Looks like someone dropped the ball and their trying to blame it on Apple…

I imagine it’s because Apple changed the rules so that iPhone apps created in Flash CS5 could not be submitted to the app store. Not exactly the ABC’s fault.

Hey dude …. does their charter really apply outside of Australia’s jurisdiction?

Of course their programme content must be geo-coded in order to comply with the geographic limitations of their programme acquistion contracts (they may have only bought Australian rights – indeed they may only hold broadcast rights and not on-line right under legacy deals). Additionally, locally produced content may also require global ‘buy-out’ terms for local talent under MEA terms and conditions.

It’s not just as simple as “flicking the geo-code switch” – everything has to with the letter of the law and honour all contracts and deals (not the Internet’s strong suit I know!).

ABC will generally have the rights to commercialise content outside of Australia. ie generate revenues. John your right there are also rights issues beyond Australian territory.

They would have been caught out by Apple’s bombshell dropped the day before Adobe’s CS5 release.

Adobe had long trumpeted Flash’s new main drawcard as being the ability to publish apps to all kinds of different platforms – iPad, iPhone, Android, etc. The attraction being that developers can build just the one “app” and send it out to multiple platforms and save a fortune on development costs.

Despite this feature being announced and available in a beta version of the software months before it’s launch date, Apple chose to wait until the day before it shipped to quietly change the rules that prohibited any third party software touching the precious iPad source code.

Developers who’d hoped to get a few months head start on their iPad app suddenly found themselves up the creek without an iPaddle.

Picture Steve Jobs wearing a grey suit, stroking a white Persian cat saying “Your move, Mr Bond” and you wouldn’t be too far off the mark.

SD – they generally have the rights outside of Australia for content they produce or commission, but not for content they acquire which are generally held by the original producer or commissioner. I believe that this changing with increased digitisation, and that most broadcasters are trying to snaffle up as much of the rights to as many formats in as many markets as possible.

In turn this drives the acquistion cost up faster than the budget allocation. The talent ‘buy-out’ for global deals for local production also drives costs up pretty quickly. In essence, the ‘under-writing’ costs are escalating as a type of insurance in the hope that the programmes become a global success and become ‘rivers of gold’.

RTSPE (the method ABC uses to stream content through iView) was never going to work on applications built in CS5 and turned into iPad apps. Just because it’s built in Flash doesn’t mean it’ll work when placed in a different environment. RTSPE needs a Flash Player to decode the stream.

I don’t know what ABC will use instead. Is there a studio-endorsed FairPlay method of encrypting h.264 streams? I suppose there would be, or at least Apple must be working on one. But will it work through HTML5 video tags? No, I expect not, and certainly not outside of an Apple-controlled operating system.

So much for the open web.

ABC were not caught out by Apple’s bombshell…. the export-to-iPhone-app feature of Flash CS5 would always have been a risky development path to rely on for a critical app like iView.

The issue is that the video streaming and UI needs to be redeveloped for a touch-screen device. All the best-practice video apps on iPad such as ABC America or the iTunes video aren’t just rehashed HTML5 websites… they’re properly designed for the device.

Of course, it’s surreal to see an Australian Senator quizzing the ABC because Flash doesn’t work on his latest gadget (a gadget that isn’t even available to Australians yet).

Jobs said – “the mobile era is about low power devices”. He must have a better battery on his iphone …..

John Grono,
Yes the charter specifically points to this:
“(ii) enable Australian citizens living or travelling outside Australia to obtain information about Australian affairs and Australian attitudes on world affairs; and”
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/ABCcharter.htm

I can understand International programs or co-produced programs not being available. However, the whole application is unavailable for IP addresses outside Australia.

Thank you Dude – well sleuthed.

Anyone from ABC who reads Mumbrella that can explain why the iView application is geo-blocked in totality and not according to existant programming rights? I’ll have a dig around and see what I can find.