On a day on which a leaked memo to the Sydney Morning Herald revealed News International research has revealed that readers are happy to pay for its content, the BBC has placed some of its most popular material online - permanently and free of charge.
The BBC Wildlife Finder is a place where viewers can watch footage of some of the world's most fascinating and unusual animals, including the giant tortoise, the great white shark, the African wild dog and the jumping spider.
Sir David Attenborough has also selected his favourite highlights, including an attack on a shoal of sardines and his encounter with mountain gorillas.
The BBC's controller of knowledge, George Entwhistle, unveiled the Wildlife Finder by saying: "The BBC has a vast collection of world-class natural history content which we are now making available to viewers online. Through Wildlife Finder, we are able to offer viewers a year round on-demand natural history experience."
The service is certain to be popular, although it will be interesting to see whether this morning's announcement that Orange will soon be allowed to sell the Apple iPhone encourages rival O2 to allow 3G mobile access to BBC content - at present the mobile BBC iPlayer is available only to iPhone users with Wi-Fi connections.
After all, the new BBC project throws one fact into the spotlight — content is still king, and if you get it right your search engine optimisation becomes a whole lot more effective.
