For science fiction geeks everywhere, this may be the boon you’ve been waiting for. The BBC announced they will offer episodes of “Dr. Who” and Red Dwarf” for cell phones, thinking the geeks are early adopters.
Britain’s own BBC has had these shows around for decades and now they are making special offers for the fans through their mobile phones. They’ve teamed with ROK Player, a cell phone content company to sell special memory card known as digital video chips (DVC), which can be inserted into compatible equipment. The DVC will carry one episode of the good Dr. and three episodes of “Red Dwarf”. It will be available in Nokia stores and at ROK Player’s site. The initial BBC offering includes the classic Doctor Who special “The Five Doctors” and three episodes from Red Dwarf; “Marooned” (Series III), “Quarantine” (Series V), “Cassandra” (Series VIII).
“BBC Worldwide is always looking for new opportunities, both in the UK and abroad, that allow consumers to enjoy their favourite TV content again and again, while delivering additional revenues to the BBC and to the talent behind the classic programming. The ROK Player meets these demands, delivering high quality full-length episodes to mobile phones on a commercial basis,” said Marc Humphrey, Business Development Manager, BBC Worldwide.
This process is based on a tiny little chip called a digital video chip ROK Player is working on. They’ve got the patent pending now in the U.K. and no word on the U.S. status.
Unfortunately for us Yanks, these won’t be available here just yet. The price for the chip will be 17 pounds. They’ve also got a number of movies already in the can including “Shawshank Redemption”. No word on whether the Dalek Emperor will receive an advance copy.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
