The BBC opening up its programme archives? Consider the model: the public pays for the content on the BBC (TV and radio) by paying a yearly TV license fee. Now you can find impassioned calls to end the license, but as an American living in Britain, I think the license makes a lot of sense.
The BBC news is generally regarded as some of the best in the world; likewise, the programming (while eccentric at times) is generally more enjoyable—if nothing else, because there aren’t any commercials. Compare this to a situation where the news must be salable, otherwise they won’t get advertising contracts that keep them on the air. As such, the news must be palatable to the people (lest they switch to another news station), and the advertisers looking to sell their product in-between soundbites pull their adverts. At the end of the day, you’re not likely to be critical of anything that challenges the opinion of the people, are you? Explain to me how you get good news from that system, please?
When your content is paid for by the public, it’s nice to see the corporation behind it moving to put that content back in the hands of the public, for free. Or, for the cost of your TV license. I just don’t see how you can call it anything other than good value for money; someone will have to explain that to me.