Update: ABC notified Computerworld Australia that the problem was fixed the night of 15 March.
The ABC has been experiencing operational issues with its iView service, with Sony’s Playstation 3 software causing its iView service to halt downloading at 84 per cent.
ABC iView acting manager, Bruce Collier, told Computerworld Australia the root cause of the issue had not yet been established, however said the problem was related to the communication protocols between the Playstation and the ABC’s API servers.
“Unfortunately the latest Playstation software update came at the same time we were rolling out an urgently needed upgrade to iView’s back-end systems, so there’s a few variables at play,” he said. “At this stage our focus is to resolve the problem for our users as quickly as possible.”
According to Collier, the ABC has been working with Sony who were also aware of the problem, in an effort to resolve the issue and handle audience support queries together.
Collier would not speculate on the reasons behind the “urgent” upgrade to iView or what the upgrade would provide the service.
The PS3 is just one of the devices the iView service is available on with the ABC last year announcing plans to expand the service to Apple iPads and extending its distribution agreement with Sony to allow the service to be available via its Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players.