BBC Trust approves pay-to-download service

The BBC Trust has approved proposals for BBC Store, which will allow users to buy BBC TV shows and keep them permanently.

The plans were originally outlined last year during Tony Hall’s first major speech as BBC director-general, in which he announced that the corporation wanted to move from “being catch-up TV to online TV.”

In a statement issued last week, the Trust described the service as a “natural progression in a digital age.”

The Trust added that BBC Store will benefit both licence fee payers and the creative industry as a whole.

The news comes alongside Lord Hall’s announcement that the licence fee should be extended to include people watching content via iPlayer.

Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention last week, Hall said: “There is room for modernisation so that the fee applies to the consumption of BBC TV programmes, whether live on BBC One or on-demand via the iPlayer.”