TheWayoftheWeb

I don’t mean to be too hard on the BBC news technology show Click (iPlayer link). After all, the broadcast television show does a reasonable job of displaying and explaining technology to a mainstream news channel. And there’s always an occasional something for those more technologically savvy.

But today’s episode highlighted the problem with broadcasting schedules. At the end of the show, they plugged their CES coverage which will run over the next two weeks (on iPlayer on Jan 16 and Jan 23 I believe).

Now the 2010 International CES ran from January 7-10. Which means it started last Thursday, and finished today. And being the first major show of the year, and just about the biggest, there’s been coverage absolutely everywhere. Previews, videos, interviews, analysis – on almost every single website under the sun.

Indeed if you manage to find the actual Click section of the BBC website, there are already features on many of the big CES gadgets on video, and an interview with Steve Ballmer.

And almost everyone attending CES has a device capable of recording decent video content – whether it’s quick mobile footage, a handheld like a Flip Mino HD or Kodak Zi8, or something higher up the professional recording level ladder like the Canon 5D. As an example, my friend Angus shot 30 fully-produced videos available on Youtube, and 11 Qik videos, plus a combination of iPhone and hi-res still photos for Which? magazine which are all already online. (Find out more @angusfarquhar)

Put simply, if anyone in the world wants to see absolutely anything from the CES, they’ll have seen it. Even if they’ve got a passing interest in technology, someone will have sent them the link on Facebook or by email. And if they’re not that interested, they’ll struggle to find out Click exists, check the scheduling, and be watching at the fairly unsociable hours at which it’s broadcast.

It’s something I come across every day with the sheer weight of microblogging stories I could cover on 140char.com if I had infinite time available.

Probably the rule of thumb is to assume that everything becomes available to almost anyone as soon as it’s public anywhere, and you should make as much available as you can as soon as you can. And if there’s going to be a delay for non-exclusive content, you’re better off forgetting about it and moving onto the next thing.

(Incidentally, in terms of BBC CES content and coverage, I’d recommend following the likes of @ruskin147 and @maggieshiels on Twitter.)