BBC plans for online radio partnerships

The BBC is working with commercial broadcasters on developing an open platform for the delivery of radio content over the internet.

In an interview with The Guardian, director of audio and music Tim Davie said that radio needed to adapt for new consumption methods and patterns.

"I'm talking about getting radio fit for the on-demand digital age," he told the paper. "Why shouldn't we be able to live pause, put it on hard drive, grab stuff from the past seven days and pre-book on radio as well as TV."

Conversations are already underway with commercial broadcasters and RadioCentre, the trade body for commercial radio stations in the UK, and announcements on specific initiatives are expected in the near future.

The BBC and commercial radio companies are already working on ways to connect broadcast receivers to relevant online data. RadioDNS, a project designed to connect various audio devices - including radio receivers - to the net to provide new services including visuals, programme guides, and social features such as tagging, counts people from the BBC, Channel 4, Global Radio, Fraunhofer and NAVTEQ amongst its contributors.