Ashley Highfield, the director of the BBC's new media and technology division, has been outlining the Beeb's public broadcaster's online strategy. Speaking at the MIX06 conference in Las Vegas (an event organised by Microsoft for web developers, designers and business professionals) Highfield claimed that the BBC would be working closely with partners like Microsoft in the future.
Highfield said, "We have a duty of universality. So it's vital that we innovate through a number of strategic partnerships with technology companies and distributors such as Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Homechoice, NTL and Telewest. Both the BBC and Microsoft are ultimately looking for ways to empower our audiences; to put them in control, and in this we have an alignment of strategic objectives."
He added, "The challenge is to create an end-to-end infrastructure for all our programming, to deliver content to all our audiences in the most cost-effective, simple and flexible way possible. The last ten yards of railway track-seamless delivery from the PC to the TV-is still to be built within the home."