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The news that Apple has been negotiating with record companies to make their music videos available for download on the iTunes Music Store has re-ignited the rumour that refuses to die: that Apple is about to produce a video iPod.

It is easy to see why the Wall Street Journal, which reported the talks, would draw the conclusion that a video iPod was on the way. After all, the iPod as it stands, even with the relatively new addition of a colour screen and photo-storing capability, is getting long in the tooth and Apple will be feeling the need to do something to capture more headlines for its music player. Other than adding phone capabilities, which would seem to be out of the question after it announced a joint venture with Motorola to produce a phone with iTunes capability, there would seem to be little else, other than adding video, that Apple could do to improve the iPod.

The Wall Street Journal did predict the Apple/Intel announcement, so it would be foolish to dismiss the video iPod speculation out of hand. I just can't help getting the feeling that on this occasion, Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs will stick to their guns and stay away from a portable video player.

Existing portable movie players from the likes of Creative and Archos haven't exactly set the heather alight, suggesting the market for these devices may not exist. If it does exist, surely Sony, with its PlayStation Portable (PSP), is in a better position to grab ownership than Apple.

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The PSP has a bigger screen than the iPod, plays games as well as music and video, and seems to have broad support from software developers. Elgato already provides the ability to encode TV programmes recorded with its EyeTV software in the PSP's video format. Furthermore, at least one other key developer will add PSP support to its product in the next release.

Of course, Sony is also in a position to release big movies in PSP format, through its Hollywood studio. That kind of competition may just be too stiff, even for Apple. After all, one of the reasons the iPod succeeded so brilliantly was Sony's complete failure to recognise the importance of the MP3 format and produce a compelling portable product. By the time it did, it was too late.

So, if not a video iPod, then what? The answer may lie deep in the recesses of the BBC's digital TV schedule, with a programme called The Mighty Boosh. The second series of this BBC3 comedy premiered on the BBC's website a week before it was shown on TV. The BBC said this was just the first of a number of BBC3 shows that would air first on the web. Yes, you need to use Real Player, and, yes, the quality, even with a decent broadband connection, is pretty ropey, but it is an important milestone nonetheless.

The BBC is keen to show that it is embracing new technology and that it is making its programming available in a variety of ways beyond the traditional linear broadcasts, giving the licence-payer greater choice and better value for the fee. The BBC, of course, has a huge library of archive material, and if the web experiment proves successful, it could lead to this material being made available online. That would require huge amounts of storage space and bandwidth, but neither of those barriers are insurmountable. It would also require sorting out a few rights agreements such as the one that gives UKTV, of which the BBC is a 50% shareholder, a large chunk of the archive for its channels. The BBC has a buy-back option to that content, and it will be interesting to see whether it takes it up.