[jermy]

The irony is that we (the company I work for) already do low-resolution web-based proxy editing. The BBC has know about us since 2006 - we were even part of the original DMI tender process, but have been sidelined through all of that, with preferred vendors and consultants taking over (actually, we were also part of two of the six large-consultancy bids on the second round, but that tender was again dropped when Siemens were idiotically awarded the contract instead).

You're absolutely right about proxy content not being right for all markets - especially Drama - but it's not just a question of getting a good enough quality encode. If you don't have a calibrated display on your BBC desktop, then it's pretty meaningless. We are used as a production tool for logging and rough-cut editing on high shooting ratio (typically reality) programmes before an offline edit, and will save a lot of hours in editing suite time.

The DMI has been in the way of us being able to sell to the BBC for many years now, even though it has been a ghost ship for most of the last year. We were unsurprisingly delighted (as a company, of course, not as licence payers) that it has been officially dropped today.