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Beeb tunes in to IBM's Marvel to sort its content
Hot on heels of YouTube tie-up...

By Tim Ferguson

Published: Monday 05 March 2007

The BBC has announced it will work with IBM to develop its online search services.

The Beeb will trial IBM's Marvel search technology. It uses speech analysis and visual information to categorise content, to make it more easily searchable.

Paul Cheesbrough, controller of digital media at the BBC, said the tech will allow users to search by a certain reporter, location or even mood, for example.

He said the system will make content more 'atomisable', meaning programmes can be broken down into their different elements - such as an outside broadcast or studio-based discussion - which can then be categorised.

Cheesbrough said the BBC will trial the tech for children's programming - such as CBeebies and CBBC - until the autumn, before a decision is taken on whether to roll it out for other archived content.

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The collaboration will also include a pilot of IBM's Media Hub which allows creative teams to manage and move content during a production process.

Further collaboration with IBM could include content distribution, CRM, joint research and rights management.

Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology at the BBC, said in a statement the alliance with IBM will offer "new and genuinely innovative services to our audiences".

The announcement follows a tie-up with YouTube, which will see BBC channels appear on the web 2.0 video-sharing site.