Dreams, data and downloads

Although the BBC has been online for over 25 years, bbc.co.uk was launched in 1997. Before that the BBC Networking Club was an early attempt to put the corporation on the web.

This timeline will take you through some of the milestones from those two decades through video interviews with key figures who were part of the story.

The early days of the web

As Tim Berners-Lee was developing the World Wide Web at CERN, companies like the BBC were trying to connect their networks to the outside world.

During the early 1990s a series of developments slowly inched the BBC towards a place on the internet. The engineer Brandon Butterworth applied for the bbc.co.uk domain in 1991 and also set up the internal REITH network to connect machines within different departments. Before long, programme-makers wanted email and Usenet access, which meant connecting to the internet via the JANET academic network - and some producers realised they could now publish to the web. The BBC's web journey had begun.

The BBC Networking Club

The friendly face of Auntie to help you get online

BBC producers and managers noticed the growing importance of the web in the early 1990s and saw an opportunity to build on the success of the BBC Micro computer literacy project in the 1980s. The Networking Club was set up to accompany technology programmes such as BBC Two's 'The Net' and 5 Live's 'Big Byte', and consisted of a BBC-branded internet service provider, a website, and the AUNTIE bulletin board. The club was managed through its early days by Peter Riding and Julian Ellison.

Network interference

A step away from the web?

With no formal internet strategy an unexpected collection of sites represented the BBC online and many pages - not just those that supported computing programming - began to appear. Deciding the web was a form of publishing, responsibility for it passed to the commercial department which printed BBC material like Radio Times. The club closed within two years as it was considered inappropriate for the BBC to sell internet access whilst new internet service providers were launching in the UK.

A new understanding

As the web quickly developed, it was suddenly taken seriously by those at the very top of the BBC.

In just a few years the web had changed. Now it was possible to add pictures and sound to a web page - and video would not be far behind. The ability to deliver audio and images meant the web could become important - and Director General John Birt noticed - possibly influenced by other media companies who were staking out their places online too. Plans for a news and sport service by the BBC's commercial arm were halted and the project was developed within the licence fee. A plan was needed.

BBC Online

bbc.co.uk and BBC News Online formally launch.

Parts of the BBC had continued to experiment with the web - the Andrew Neil show, Budget 1995/6 trials, and a service for the Atlanta Olympics were notable highlights. 1997's General Election took this a step further and a site launched to cover news from the campaign. The site proved popular and continued to report politics for the rest of the year. However, as journalists were preparing for the launch of News Online, the death of Princess Diana was announced.

Interactivity

The web allowed access to programmes in ways we'd never seen before.

Many sites were launched to complement BBC services, offering audiences an opportunity to find out much more about programmes or even be part of them! Message boards, webcams and email were well received and games like Celebdaq and Jamie Kane engaged audiences in new ways. However the web wasn't popular with all programme makers: some disliked the attention or resources given to 'new media', and some were totally resistant to the idea of viewers and listeners giving their input.

Experimentation and expansion

Now the BBC was formally on the web, plans were made to develop sites and services and creativity flourished - at first.

The BBC's executive committee developed an internet strategy for the future. The first phase would offer simple text websites. When enough users could access broadband, the second phase would add audio and video alongside more complex sites and services. A third phase foresaw a future where high-quality streaming of TV would be possible in '10-20 years' (in fact it was less than that). A burst of new ideas attracted criticism as the BBC began to challenge non-traditional competitors.

Listen Again

The BBC Radio Player launches - a sign of things to come?

A small, highly unofficial feature on the Radio 1 site in the late 1990s led to the launch of the BBC Radio Player in 2001. Offering the opportunity to listen to many programmes from the last seven days, it was an instant success with the public. But the service was a good example of how the BBC was increasingly coming up against copyright issues with online services and was also having to consider how offering services for free would affect commercial competitors.

Web 2.0

As the web started to mature and new technologies and formats became available, the BBC began to develop new ways of presenting content.

The web could now do more than just deliver simple pages. Complex sites and services were possible and mobile technology would clearly have an impact soon. Successful sites like Wikipedia engaged their users and there was a realisation that just because you could do everything on the web - it didn't mean you should. Linking and sharing would instead be key. The changes set the BBC on a new path and allowed it to dive into podcasting, quality video, citizen journalism and the mobile web

iPlayer

Though the iPlayer is now a huge success, it took years to deliver and had a tricky time getting approved by BBC managers.

Ben Lavender woke up with the idea of being able to access all the BBC's programmes on demand via the web and so began his work planning the integrated Media Player (BBC iMP). Nearly five years later he and project leader Tony Ageh launched what had by then become the iPlayer on Christmas Day 2007. It had taken 84 internal presentations to convince managers of the service's value, put rights agreements in place, and conduct a host of technical trials, but the dream had finally been realised. 

BBC Sport Online

The BBC has been able to develop new technologies and services around coverage of events like the Olympics, World Cup and Wimbledon.

The 1996 Olympics and 1998 World Cup were early BBC experiments within sport but it remained part of News Online until 2000. The Sydney Olympics in 2000 saw the launch of a dedicated sport site, and it has pushed forward many of the technical developments on bbc.co.uk ever since - video streaming for the Athens Olympics, the use of linked data in the 2010 World Cup and comprehensive coverage of every event during London 2012, while the popular mobile site and live pages continue to evolve.

The future

So, after over 25 years online... where next?

Many of the plans that John Birt's executive team oversaw in 1998 have now come to pass - we are in a 'total digital' future: a rich multimedia world that is available online, everywhere. But what do the next 20 years hold for the BBC on the web? What should the corporation do in future and where should it go online? How can the BBC take the latest technologies and incorporate them into the next stage of the web's evolution? Some of our interviewees gave us their thoughts.