Tag: BBC iPlayer »

Amongst other things, I'm a proud Brit because of services such as the BBC. Producing quality television and radio for many decades, the BBC is an all round fantastic service to be able to access. The company is also not afraid of trying out new technology with the successful launch of its Video-on-Demand service iPlayer coming to the iPad earlier this year.

Not quite as accomplished as something like Netflix, iPlayer has enabled users to catch up on television and radio shows previously aired on a BBC channel in the past seven days. It's the kind of thing that becomes incredibly useful for those who hardly watch a traditional TV set any more.

That's a service that hasn't been open to all around the world though, most notably with the omission of USA and Canada. While there's still no sign of the USA being added to the countries supported, Canadian iOS users will be pleasantly surprised with the latest announcement. iPlayer will now stretch to 16 countries comprising of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland as of this Thursday. Hopefully for USA fans, it's just a matter of time until relevant licensing is implemented.

To further add to the excitement for users in those countries, the iPlayer app will be available to iPhone and iPod Touch users from Thursday too. No longer will users be restricted to the website as they can now use the immediately useful and free app instead.

While we're writing about exciting news, a deal has been arranged with programme distributor DRG to supply the service with many iconic British TV shows in early 2012. These will range from the likes of Peep Show, Black Books, Green Wing, Father Ted and Shameless - all shows that I can confidently say are fantastic examples of what quality television can come out of the British isles.

The new and improved iPlayer app will be released on Thursday but is currently already available for iPad users in the relevant region.

[Source: TheNextWeb]

Ages ago, when mankind first learned of fire and kept small dinosaurs as pets, I used to work in a very large bookstore. One of those big ones that sold DVDs and wooden toys on top of books and stuff. Stick with me, the bit about the DVDs is important. So, having worked in a store that sells DVDs I've come to learn something about our society: American people go absolutely nuts for British television.

Seriously, so many people would spend upwards of $80 or more on a single season of some show about a woman who marries people and lives in wine country or something. And maybe solves murders. Average citizens solve a lot of murders over there, don't they?

Perhaps it's because they've finally realized that their shows have a massive global appeal, or maybe it's because they finally got the funds together, but BBC Worldwide has created (and is unleashing) their BBC iPlayer: an iPad app that allows a fairly extensive (1500 hours worth on day one) amount of their catalog to be streamed digitally. The managing director of BBC.com (Luke Bradley-Jones) has told guardian.co.uk that the service will feature newer episodes but also grant users access to "... the best from the catalogue stretching back 50 to 60 years."

Some content is available for free (add-supported, of course), but subscriptions are available for €6.99 (roughly $10) a month and €49.99 (about $72) a year. Sure subscription fees are always daunting, but considering the fact that most BBC enthusiasts plunk down more than triple that in a year or less, I think this seems like a great deal. Especially when considering the perks that the US version will include: 3G and Wi-Fi streaming, as well as (this is the big one) downloading videos directly to the iPad for offline viewing. I mean seriously, who wouldn't be willing to pay a little bit each year to be able to load up some Doctor Who, Primeval, Top Gear and more, whenever they'd like? Imagine how awesome those commutes would be.

The BBC iPlayer is due out "Thursday" in 11 Western European countries, but US, Canadian and Australian residents will have to wait until later this year. Bummer.

[via guardian.co.uk] [ image credit: guardian.co.uk ]