The BBC's plans

Creative Archive Licence

The Creative Archive Licence Group was launched on April 13th 2005, by founding members the BBC, the bfi, Channel 4 and the Open University, to make content available for download under the terms of a single, shared user licence scheme. This licence, called the Creative Archive Licence, has been created for the downloading of moving images, audio and stills.

BBC

We, the BBC, have been working hard to look at new ways to clear the copyright on TV and Radio output so that you, the British public, can get creative with it. There has been an 18 month pilot, testing the release of content under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence during which a huge variety of material has been released.

In September 2005 we released the first batch of BBC clips under the Creative Archive Licence. Nearly 100 programme clips were made available from the Superstar VJs sites with Radio 1 Interactive and 1xtra. We also launched a mixing competition aimed at VJs which attracted 400 entries of outstanding quality.

In December 2005 we teamed up with BBC News to release nearly 80 on-line news reports from its archives. The bulletins cover some iconic events of the past 50 years including the fall of the Berlin Wall, crowds ejecting soldiers from Beijing's Tiananmen Square and behind-the-scenes footage of the England team prior to their World Cup victory in 1966.

In February 2006, in conjunction with the BBC's award winning Natural History Unit we released unbroadcast rushes from the highly anticipated new series of "Planet Earth", footage from ground breaking series such as "The Natural World", segments from series narrated by David Attenborough and remarkable images and audio clips.

In May 2006 we teamed up with the local BBC regions of Devon and Cornwall, and Humber and Lincolnshire to release footage depicting key moments in local history such as dramatic scenes from the miner’s strikes, incredible shots of the Torrey Canyon disaster, shocking images of devastating flooding in Boscastle and Lincolnshire, and emotional scenes as Falklands soldiers come home to their families. The archive also contains interviews with celebrities such as the Beatles and key political figures such as Harold Wilson and Arthur Scargill.

In September 2006 the BBC delved back into its archives to find material documenting the very beginning of the BBC's television service. The material released included images of King George VI’s coronation in 1937, shots of the young Queen and Prince Philip greeting the stars of the day, interviews about the first ever broadcasts for ethnic minorities, people reminiscing about the history of weather broadcasts, and footage of the first ever television announcers as they remember working in the early days of BBC broadcasts! ! The public were also able to access material that charts the technological development of television including interviews with the teams who worked with Logie Baird.

This pilot period is now drawing to a close and the site containing all the content released by the BBC under the Creative Archive Licence will be taken down at the end of September so that the service can undergo a Public Value test. This site will be updated with details about this assessment throughout the process.