Broadband Content Bits: Server Meltdown; BBC Earth; Borders’ E-Books; Film Piracy

imageLast.fm server meltdown: When it snows, London comes to a standstill; when it shines, servers start melting. Several websites including music-streaming service Lastfm went offline on Sunday after a major data centre in central London collapsed. Temperatures of 50°C were recorded after a chilling unit failed. Via The Reg.

BBCWW: Auntie’s commercial wing is drumming up publicity for its natural history content with a YouTube channel based around its new BBC Earth brand. The channel features the Blue Planet series as well as 50 other clips and is part of a brand identity push to promote natural history coverage outside the UK and drive sales of DVDs and merchandise worldwide. The Beeb has also launched a site to back the campaign.

Borders downloads: Joining the growing number of physical booksellers offering digital versions, high street retailer Borders had added 45,000 e-books to its relaunched website. It’s the first time the store has offered book downloads, which are available in both ePub and PDF formats. Via Marketing.

Film piracy: The UK film industry is warning that legal action against online pirates is unworkable and that ISPs should introduce pop-up warnings and bandwidth throttling technology to physically stop people downloading illegally. Chair of the Respect For Film pressure group Lavinia Carey says: “Making life difficult for people who persist in accessing and copying protected material, while not preventing them from shopping online, browsing, banking online or using the internet for other legitimate purposes, is surely preferable to court actions, except in the most flagrant cases of abuse.” Lord Carter has already mooted the idea in the draft report — the final version is due on June 16. From Guardian.co.uk.

ChannelFlip.com: The male-focused video start-up has appointed ad network Net Communities to handle its European ad sales account. The site has achieved big audience gains with exclusive short-form clips from comedy actors David Mitchell and Robert Llewellyn. From Mediaweek.

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