The BBC has announced plans to release its global iPlayer app on the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is currently an iPad exclusive. More countries will also be added to the list of territories where the global iPlayer app is available.
Global iPlayer App
Pretty much as soon as the BBC rolled out the iPlayer in the U.K. international viewers declared they wanted in, even if it meant paying to watch the shows on offer. The BBC is known and respected around the world, and some of its biggest shows are worldwide hits.
It took a long time to happen, but in July 2011 the global iPlayer app was released in 11 European countries including Germany, Italy, and Spain. The one caveat (other than the price of subscribing) being the need to own an Apple iPad, the only platform the global iPlayer app was available on.
iDevices, International Rollout
However, from tomorrow (Dec. 8th) the global iPlayer app will be landing on the iPhone and iPod Touch as well. Users of iPhone and iPod Touch in the countries the app is already available in will be able to watch a range of BBC programming, both classic and recent.
The list of countries gaining access is also growing. Since launch the app has reached Australia, Scandinavia, and Canada. More countries are expected to follow.
In a keynote at the Digital TV Summit earlier this week, Jana Bennett, President Worldwide Networks and Global BBC iPlayer, said:
“This platform extension shows how Global iPlayer isn’t just about moving TV to tablet devices, it’s also about a mobile strategy – about truly getting TV everywhere in a way that it hasn’t been before. We also want the global BBC iPlayer to be truly representative of the whole gamut of British creative output, to represent everything that is great about British content – not just the Best of British TV but the Best of British Culture.”
Conclusions
This is all great news, both for the BBC’s coffers and for international lovers of BBC programming.
But two questions remain: When will the global iPlayer app reach the U.S., which would be the BBC’s biggest market by far? When will the BBC move beyond this love affair with Apple and its products in order to bring the app to Android and Windows products?
[Via TheNextWeb]
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