iPlayer Launches On iPhone

The BBC iPlayer has now launched on the iPhone and iPod touch, with the BBC’s head of digital media technologies saying that the Corporation is working on making the iPlayer available more browser-enabled devices over the coming months.

Anthony Rose said: “We started with iPhone because it is the device most optimised for high quality video currently available. It displays the BBCiPlayer site and BBC programmes nicely.

“We’re working on making BBCiPlayer available on many more browser-enabled devices over the coming months.”

Rose said that as there is little standardisation across mobile devices and creating custom applications is time-consuming and expensive, for now the BBC is focusing on browser-enabled devices.

The iPlayer service will see programmes streamed directly over the internet onto iPods and iPhones, rather than downloaded.

Figures recently released by the BBC show that up to 500,000 programmes are downloaded or streamed from the BBC’s iPlayer every day, and over 17 million were streamed or downloaded on-demand in the application’s first seven weeks (see Over 17m Shows Downloaded On iPlayer This Year).

In February, BBC Worldwide signed a deal to offer paid downloads of shows such as Life on Mars and Torchwood on iTunes (see BBC Shows Now On iTunes).

Meanwhile, analyst Screen Digest published a report which forecast that the iPlayer will be the driving force behind web TV growth this year (see BBC iPlayer To Aid Web TV Growth).

However, it added that the iPlayer’s dominance is building a precedent for free services that is making it harder for revenue-generating commercial strategies for online video to establish themselves.

BBC: 020 8743 8000 www.bbc.co.uk