To BoB or not to BoB – the on-demand service you should be using

It’s a common assumption amongst students that when it comes to procrastination, we’re suckers for finding something to do to evade pressing deadlines, idly leafing through text books, or the hell that is referencing. Television is a highly favoured way of doing this, with many students opting to subscribe to popular platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime to get their weekly – or as term progresses, daily – fix of their favourite TV show. But while these sites can be pretty reasonably priced, for those not wanting to fork out a monthly subscription fee or even run the risk of the BBC banging on your door demanding to see your TV license (a popular freshers myth I’m yet to hear any instances of), there is a viable alternative in one of the hidden gems of Warwick life.

‘BoB’ is a website easily accessed via www.learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand, which through its large range of channels gives you the opportunity to watch an even larger range of TV shows, documentaries and radio broadcasts from years gone by on demand. Music to your ears I’m sure. And the best part – it’s entirely free (tuition fees excluded). It’s not often that students question freebies, but if you are sat there wondering what the catch is, rest assured. Warwick is one of the many UK institutions which has a subscription to the service, meaning that for you as a student, all that’s left to do is to create an account by signing in with your university email address, log in, and feast your eyes upon the latest instalment of Bake Off in a matter of minutes.

The biggest challenge I’ve encountered in using BoB isn’t trying to find my desired show, but racking my brain to find things which it doesn’t have

Marketed as an educational tool, BoB has a number of features which are useful both for its intended purpose or just an added bonus if simply viewing for pleasure. Users can create short clips from broadcasts, compile programmes into playlists, and – perhaps the best feature setting it apart from mainstream TV sites BBC iPlayer and ITV Player – if a recent broadcast isn’t available to view, you can hit the request button and an email should land in your inbox within hours telling you it’s ready to watch.

What’s more, included among its 65 channels are several foreign language channels which, from the point of view of a languages student who has frustratingly encountered the phrase ‘this broadcast is not available in your country’ all too often, is a real asset to the service. This may apply to my fellow languages students, international students looking for some home comforts, or anybody wishing to dip into foreign language viewing (if not looking for anything in particular, perusing the site’s handy TV guide can be a good start – I happened to stumble across a German show whose title amusingly translates as ‘Kebabs with Everything’, if you fancy starting there). Clearly the range of material on offer is huge: the biggest challenge I’ve encountered in using BoB isn’t trying to find my desired show, but racking my brain to find things which it doesn’t have – I’m always surprised at what’s out there, hence why I recently ended up spending the 40 minutes I had to kill at a train station watching Pixar’s WALL-E.

Whether after reading this article you use the BoB service or not, it’s nevertheless important that more students are made aware of one of the more unique resources which Warwick has to offer. If you do use it and this newfound knowledge could see you spending term catching up on all the times the BBC showed a Disney film at Christmas, and ultimately the demise of your degree, I can only apologise and say you have been warned.