Date: 2nd February 2001

BBC "Territorial" Site Not Possible, Says Experts


Plans by the BBC to launch an advertiser-supported international news site which could only be viewed outside of Britain have been derided by some experts who say that such a concept is a pipe dream.

The "open source" organization Apache Foundation told the ZDNet news site that geographical blocking "is not possible." He added" "The BBC may hope they can block the site domestically but then management often think very stupid things." But a spokesman for the BBC was quoted as saying, "U.K. users won't be able to log on to the international site and vice versa." He said that the technology to enable such a plan is "still being explored."

Source: Studio Briefing