Lost in Space - Part 2

Nomad missed this story when it first came out but it obviously bears analysis. Once again the BBC is boldly going along tracks that have already been mapped, graded and in some cases even tarmaced. This time the BBC is offering to connect you to various BBC and commercial radio stations via the internet. Duhhhhh. Does your PC have Window Media Player (thats a rhetorical question by the way)? Then enter the URL of your chosen radio station audio stream and .... er, thats it really. The previous post explains how you can also use TVersity for this.

Hang on a minute though, doesnt this sound rather like the BBC's plan to offer us television over the internet. Clearly the BBC has a strategy and it behoves us to ask what the point of the strategy is. The BBC is trying to establish itself as a portal for streaming media on the internet and it is hoping for one or more of the following:
a) People will pay the licence fee because thier media player has a BBC logo.
b) The BBC can populate a database that tells them who watches what.
c) The package involves you using live streaming video and so you need to buy a TV licence.

There may also be other reasons but clearly the BBC sees some advantage in what it is doing.