New Project: TV Tweets

I’ve just finished a new small project I started to try out Twitter’s oAuth API.

The BBC produce an output of TV listings in XML format, which they make freely available at http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/feeds/tvradio/. It’s hosted on a HTTP webpage, zipped into a .tar.gz, but it’s XML all the same.

I’ve taken this feed, converted it into a SQL Server database, and put it out again on Twitter, at the time the program is just about to start.

So far, so simple. What I’m hoping to find is that the BBC feed also includes genre meta data, so I can hashtag particular types of program. That’s when the service will become actually useful.

In the meantime, however, you can follow the progress by following @OnTvRightNow, viewing the tweets or following the #OnTvRightNow hashtag.

Good though the BBC data is, it’s frustrating not having the full spectrum of UK terrestrial channels. It would be great to find a source of program data that isn’t limited to just the BBC.