By
Marija Jaroslavskaja

BBC Trust has release a review of the BBC on-demand content syndication policy following a public consultation on the provision syndication ruling published in January 2011. The Trust is standing by its preference for syndicating "the standard BBC product" (i.e. the iPlayer). 
The trust has review three key principal "alternative means" of syndication

- BBC-branded area on third party platforms
- self-build (permitted or licensed customised version of the iPlayer built by third party)
- dissagregation (licensing on a by-asset basis)

and concluded that it will not explicitly prohibit these, any of these alternative means of syndication will only be permited in exceptional circumstances. The Trust has made it clear that conculding an alternative syndication deal would require the syndicating company to convince the BBC Executive to undertake persuading the Trust on its behalf that this particular instance warrants an exceptional arrangement.

With BBC accounting for 36 per cent of free to view online video consumption in the UK, it is essential to secure content from the public broadcaster for any OTT player aiming to become a one-stop-shop online video content aggregator for the UK market. This is why BSkyB was one of the most vocal critics of the earlier ruling: the pay TV operator is naturally focused on maintaining its status as a gateway and believes in maintaining its brand throughout the services it provides.The new ruling provides only a minor relaxation on the previous rules and IHS Screen Digest believes it unlikely that many 'alternative syndication' deals will be granted. However, it is also worth noting that the new policy includes explicit provisions for greater sharing of metadata, which the Trust explains, should aleviate a number of pressing issues for third party aggregators as it would allow better integration and deep linking between the syndicated BBC product and third party service EPGs.

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