BBC enables mobile iPlayer downloads
The BBC is set to allow viewers to download series on to their tablets and smartphones for the first time.
Licence-fee payers will be able to download BBC programmes from iPlayer and watch them offline on an iPhone or iPad, even while abroad.
The download function is expected launch on Google Android smartphones soon.
Daniel Danker, the BBC’s general manager of on-demand programmes, said: “This fundamentally changes one of the most annoying restrictions about viewing programmes. It means audiences are liberated from the constraints [of online-only viewing] and it fundamentally changes what it means to go on holiday.”
“With mobile downloads, you can now load up your mobile phone or tablet with hours and hours of BBC programmes, then watch them on the road, on the tube, on a plane, without worrying about having an internet connection or running up a mobile data bill.”
Programmes will be available for 30 days once they have been downloaded via wi-fi, or within seven days of being watched.
Mobile requests for the BBC’s on-demand service have jumped 142% in the past year to 30 million a month.