Talk:BBC Select (1992–1995)

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Various questions[edit]

This was an interesting article and I'd like to thank whoever wrote it and satisfied my curiosity about this service. I have some more questions though that are not answered by the article:

What was the thinking behind introducing BBC Select? It is quite a departure from the BBC's usual activities to broadcast something encrypted that only a select few can access, and charge them subscription money instead of just paying for everything out of the licence fee. Who came up with the idea and why did they think it needed to be done by the BBC instead of a commercial broadcaster (subscription satellite and cable broadcasting was, after all, already up and running in 1992)?
Why did it only last two years? There is nothing in the article at the moment about its closure. Was it judged to be a failure on financial grounds or what?
How much did subscriptions cost and how did they work? Did you have to subscribe to the whole service, or could e.g. medical people choose to subscribe only to what interested them?
What did the broadcasts look like to someone watching without the unscrambling equipment?

I can answer that one - watch this YouTube video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uisMEnYM2nM

The circle comes on "in the clear", then the picture goes all fuzzy - as does the sound.

Arthurvasey (talk) 15:44, 11 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Why did Cable and Wireless get to broadcast a commercial promo video (coverage of their AGM) on the service unencrypted? This seems very un-BBC, but I suppose it was the John Major era!
When BBC Select disappeared, and assuming there were people who actually watched it and handed over money for it, what replaced it? Did commercial broadcasters pick up the slack, or did mail-order VHS do it, or what? BBC Learning Zone didn't get up and running for another three years, and doesn't seem to be quite the same kind of service anyway.
Are there any thoughts of bringing specialist programming of some kind back overnight? Closedowns currently lead into the BBC News Channel, but in this multichannel post-swtichover era everyone can just select that channel themselves if that's what they want to watch. (It is my heartfelt wish that old OU programmes will be shown overnight once more when the plug is pulled on Pages from Ceefax later this year. A man with a beard from the 1970s explaining integral calculus to the nation is of value and interest to at least some people, unlike dead air or pointless channel duplication.)

Finally, if anyone has a picture of the set-top box, please upload it! Credulity (talk) 15:58, 31 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Requested move 23 February 2021[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Malformed technical request. Until/unless a new move request is made, a disambiguation page should be at the "BBC Select" basename. Paintspot Infez (talk) 22:46, 23 February 2021 (UTC) Paintspot Infez (talk) 22:47, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

BBC Select → BBC Select (streaming service) – Replacing old 25 year old television service that ended with new streaming service offered by the brand. Ardi3005 (talk) 19:40, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This is a contested technical request (permalink). Anthony Appleyard (talk) 20:19, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Ardi3005: BBC Select is in the past about a service in Britain. BBC Select (streaming service) is in the present about a service in North America. I see no reason for a page-move. There is already a hatlink in BBC Select. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 20:23, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Anthony Appleyard: - Understood, but would it be possible to change the URLs so that /BBCSelect links to the newer streaming service and a different URL is assigned to the current BBC Select page? We are having issues with Google pulling the wrong/old content about the service into their knowledge graph. Ardi3005 (talk) 21:35, 23 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.