Published yesterday by The Independent, and brought to our attention by Professor Sean Street of BU, an article entitled 'A treasure trove of film from the BBC archives goes online' by Ian Burrell, which is based on an interview with the BBC's Roly Keating, gives more information on the BBC's recent activities and plans to release public access to some of its archive holdings. As ever, one of the key controlling factors in delivering public access is the legacy rights issue.  While the BBC holds vast quantities of content it recorded and broadcast, it does not automatically have the rights (under the original contracts of production) to re-broadcast or release public access to these assets without clearance from most of the original contributors or their estates (if contributors are deceased).  This is a nightmare of costly administration which cannot be overlooked (bearing in mind that contributors hold rights for their lifetimes plus 70 years...).

Roly Keating and his colleagues have been nibbling away at some of these difficult issues and quietly the BBC has been releasing content for public access via the BBC Archive website.  This is a website worth book-marking and tracking.