There's just one flaw in the plan - that name. The beeb smacks of middle-class English thirty-somethings who grew up on a diet of Muffin the Mule. How may Sky TV-watching shell-suited sports fans, who may be potential customers of the beeb, be attracted by that name?
Even worse, how will that name appeal to an international audience? The BBC "brands" they know, because BBC Worldwide has been flogging them abroad for years, but will they recognise the witty insiders' shorthand?
The BBC made it worthwhile for the populace to own a radio and then a TV. The Internet is nothing special. Despite the mystery that still clouds it for the non-technical public, it's just another medium. But when the BBC came to radio and TV they didn't have to compete with myriad producers of dross.
Therein lies the difference of the Web. If consumers can be shielded from its operational complexities and the 90% of its content which is boring or obscene, then there's a good chance it will become a long-term mass medium, and not just a business network and a playground for techno-obsessives. But that's quite a big if.
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