[Mike]

The i in iplayer is a legacy from the BBCi days which was the umbrella branding for anything “interactive” such as the website and the red button. I have to say I like the use of bbci, I think the homepage in the bbci whilst dated now actually looked so much better than the home page now. I’ll be even more controversial and say I think it’s a shame in one way sounds was an i[NAME]. I don’t know what you’d put in there.

Is it though? BBCi was dead by about 3 years when the iPlayer was named and launched. Indeed the Wikipedia suggests the 'i' means integrated as much as it means interactive.

I agree with your points about the old BBC Online experience being far better, there were pages and pages of content about a very wide range of things. The 'cult' pages on Red Dwarf were quite in-depth ISTR. However it did get a bit ridiculous, particularly the 'Where I live' pages which were often a blend of local news and current affairs with webcams showing nothing.

[Neil Jones]

Wasn't BBCi initially just the Red Button and the replacement for Ceefax that nobody liked until they had to tack page number access onto it? I'm sure it was tooted as Ceefax on steroids or something like that - maybe not in those words though.

[VMPhil]

BBCi was an umbrella brand for several services - bbc.co.uk, digital text, the extra red button streams - that had previously had their own separate branding

Then they dropped it and went back to the separate brands.

[ViridianFan]

Is it though? BBCi was dead by about 3 years when the iPlayer was named and launched. Indeed the Wikipedia suggests the 'i' means integrated as much as it means interactive.

I agree with your points about the old BBC Online experience being far better, there were pages and pages of content about a very wide range of things. The 'cult' pages on Red Dwarf were quite in-depth ISTR. However it did get a bit ridiculous, particularly the 'Where I live' pages which were often a blend of local news and current affairs with webcams showing nothing.

Iplayer launched 2007 with the bbci branding slowly being dropped during 2008. Granted it was a short time but it was the reason for the i. It was the player for bbci - bbc iplayer. The first link is a bbc news article about by the relaunch

news.bbc.co.uk 

BBC News | NEW MEDIA | BBCi heralds new interactive era
The BBC's interactive services relaunch as BBCi, bringing together BBC Online, B…
  Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The second link is introducing what bbci is all about. I can remember at the time this was being heralded as the future of TV. Interacting with shows hence the i.

web.archive.org 

BBC - What is BBCi? - Homepage
[description]
  Source: web.archive.org

At the time the big thing was being able to interact with shows and that was mainly via the red button. It was an impressive service and was such a shame it got reduce but apps could do what the red button could and more.

. There were also so many shows which made use of the red button. The game show which we with the lottery was usually interactive. You had test the nation allowing you to do the iq test. There was also that show were people were “put in power” and had to make decisions cobra style which you could play along with.

I couldn’t agree more about the website it was far too big and did too much. I was thinking more the visual appearance of it. I just find the current look very bland.

[Mike]

I'm sorry, but the online brand of BBCi was dead in 2004 for online:
www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC - Press Office - New look BBC website
Press Releases
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

It was definitely all gone by 2006.

I don't know if you were around during 2007/8 but there was no BBCi branding on the internet, there were some overhanging branding on the Red Button interactive service though.

[GeeTeeKay474]

I'm sorry, but the online brand of BBCi was dead in 2004 for online:
www.bbc.co.uk 

It was definitely all gone by 2006.

I don't know if you were around during 2007/8 but there was no BBCi branding on the internet, there were some overhanging branding on the Red Button interactive service though.

The BBCi branding can still be seen to a lesser extent such as image file links.

[AndrewP]

I think the backend is often where old branding remains for a lot of companies.
Where I work there's a system using the logo from the late 80s, and one from 2000.

There's also processes that utilise a 2007 logo and some goods still ship with the 2000 logo of the company. Until recently documents from HR used a company slogan from 2004...

[Mike]

The BBCi branding can still be seen to a lesser extent such as image file links.

I'd hardly call a URL for their CDN 'branding' - where I work still uses a depreciated domain (that I never understood) from 1998 and even earlier for some internal stuff - but those brands wouldn't be considered current, and one of them is expressly prohibited in the corporate styleguide.

[Brekkie]

BBCi was still used in 2008 for the revamped interactive and text services. Looks like it was dropped in 2009.

www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC - Press Red Blog: All change in Sports
Press Red - a blog about the TV Platforms group who build and maintain the BBC's…
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[Former Member 2410]

I think the issue here is that, whilst it isn't being used currently it is still part of the BBC's branding. It was a bigger part in the past and has now fallen into, mostly, dis-use, relegated to a URL schema.

It's the same in your workplace. The URL schemas you historically used, aren't used now and / or are prohibited, but they're still there. It doesn't make them any less a part of the company 'branding', even if they're no longer used - and they're likely still trademarked / copyrighted etc. to your company, as BBCi likely is to the BBC.

As you'll know, un-doing things like that is near-impossible...