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BBC Global iPlayer App Coming to iPhone and iPod Touch

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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The BBC's worldwide edition of its iPlayer app is coming to iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPlayer worldwide edition -- which is distinct from the UK version -- is currently available in 16 territories, mostly western Europe, Australia and Canada.

iPlayer Worldwide [Direct Link] doesn't have the Live-TV, DVR and TV catch-up features that the British version does -- instead, it's a video-on-demand subscription service that gives access to selected portions of the BBC archive.

From The Next Web:
The global iPlayer app will be made available on iPhone and iPod Touch from this Thursday (8th December), and will reach millions more viewers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

"The global BBC iPlayer has seen great growth since the pilot first launched in July - both in terms of geographical expansion and technological developments", says John Smith, Chief Executive of BBC Worldwid. "Moving to iPhone and iPod Touch allows us to take the service to a significant new potential audience and deliver fantastic programme content from the BBC and the UK's creative industry."
Click to expand...
There is no indication on when iPlayer will make its way to the States, but the iPod and iPhone version of iPlayer Worldwide [iTunes Direct Link] arrives Thursday December 8th.

Article Link: BBC Global iPlayer App Coming to iPhone and iPod Touch
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/06/bbc-global-iplayer-app-coming-to-iphone-and-ipod-touch/
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,081
998
Canada
"Selected portions of the BBC archive"? What is that supposed to mean? Do the new episodes of Dr. Who go into the archive as soon as they air?

And how much will the subscription be?
 
B

BenManchester

macrumors member
Feb 1, 2009
47
0
D'oh! For a second, I thought I'd able to catch the end of Life's Too Short when I'm France over Christmas.

Boo.
 
T

TsMkLg068426

macrumors 65816
Mar 31, 2009
1,498
343
Yvan256 said:
"Selected portions of the BBC archive"? What is that supposed to mean? Do the new episodes of Dr. Who go into the archive as soon as they air?

And how much will the subscription be?
Click to expand...


Good question because I am sick and tired of waiting for Netflix to add Season 6.
 
Yvan256

Yvan256

macrumors 603
Jul 5, 2004
5,081
998
Canada
TsMkLg068426 said:
Good question because I am sick and tired of waiting for Netflix to add Season 6.
Click to expand...

Netflix doesn't even have the new seasons in Canada. In fact their selection is so poor that they still don't have Cheers, Seinfeld, Family Guy or even The Simpsons. They have Lost in Space, but not Spaceballs. They have Terminator 2, but not the first, the third or the fourth movie of the series.

I'm also pretty sure that these holes in their Canadian selection is due to our media companies who are keeping everything locked down into decade-long contracts. The joke's on them however, because not only am I not getting Netflix (their goal), but I'm also not getting their own overpriced and limited services (their loss).
 
M

manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,219
3,031
Regarding the BBC News app (which provides the radio stream of the BBC Worldservice), in the last week it has stopped producing any sound while on my home WiFi network (both on a TC and an Airport Express) while working perfectly while on 3G.

Either my cable provider is blocking it or something in the recent Airport update is blocking the relevant ports. Anybody else seeing this?
 
R

rmwebs

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2007
3,140
0
What sucks is that us UK users dont get access to any form of back catalogue or older episodes. Its a case of what was on in the last 7 days, and even then they screw that up half the time.

Plus no iPhone app and a poor iPad app.
 
N

Nordichund

macrumors 6502
Aug 21, 2007
495
265
Oslo, Norway
What the BBC serve to on their international service such as BBC Prime is pure crap and constant reruns of Top Gear. I'm surprised they just don't call their international service BBC Top Gear. Seriously whoever at the BBC who is responsible for the drivel they show needs to be taken out and shot in front of their families :p.

However their are ways one can watch the UK BBC iPlayer abroad both on the Mac and iPhone. Like many expats I do it all the time.
 
M

MacFan23

macrumors 6502a
Feb 17, 2010
504
667
rmwebs said:
What sucks is that us UK users dont get access to any form of back catalogue or older episodes. Its a case of what was on in the last 7 days, and even then they screw that up half the time.

Plus no iPhone app and a poor iPad app.
Click to expand...

Plus we don't even get the AirPlay functionality on the iPad app, where the international version does.

Not sure why I'm still paying my TV license really as I only ever watch pre recorded shows online nowadays.
 
A

alchemistmuffin

macrumors 6502a
Dec 28, 2007
717
690
I think it might be a while before BBC Global iPlayer comes to United States.
One of giant hurdles for US release is cable companies. For example, Comcast offers most BBC America shows to be streamable via Xfinity app. If BBC World Service wants to charge monthly fees for iPlayer for US users, I think cable companies who have deals BBC be upset, since they would lose cable revenue from BBC America. I think BBC iPlayer for US might be different from other versions around the world, with the fact that you have to have cable subscription.
 
Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2010
27
0
Minnesoota
There is no indication on when iPlayer will make its way to the States

Is this some sort of payback for that whole Revolutionary War thing? Crikey. :(
 
RedTomato

RedTomato

macrumors 601
Mar 4, 2005
4,155
442
.. London ..
Wirelessly posted (This odd thing that I hold: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm still waiting for them to enable subtitles on the iPhone version of the iPlayer website.

The exact same programe on the iplayer website is able to display subtitles when viewed on the iPad - but not when viewed via the iPhone. How come? The software stack is almost the same, the subtitle files are all there and ready.
 
T

theheadguy

macrumors 65816
Apr 26, 2005
1,156
1,385
california
Since people in this thread seem to have some knowledge of the iPlayer and it's lack of availability here -- how does one see missed episodes of 24 Hours in the ER (A&E in the UK)??

I can't find anyway to watch them aside from torrents... and I'd rather not, but the BBC isn't making it very easy!!
 
E

Elijahg

macrumors 6502
May 23, 2005
269
174
Bath, UK
shandyman said:
Actually there was an update a coupla weeks back that enabled AirPlay video out....
Click to expand...

There was? The only way I've got it to work is to share the whole screen of my iPad with Airplay Mirroring. Sometimes that fools something or other into displaying the video full screen on the TV, other times it's only half size. The Beeb seem to use their own video libraries, not Apple's one, hence the lack of the standard Airplay button.
 
M

MrMoore

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2006
395
23
Arlington Heights,IL
I would be interest in seeing what programs are offered on the iPlayer.

BBC America really seems to be the Top Gear channel.

And why are they playing Star Trek:TNG and Battlestar Galatica??:confused:
 
T

TsMkLg068426

macrumors 65816
Mar 31, 2009
1,498
343
Yvan256 said:
Netflix doesn't even have the new seasons in Canada. In fact their selection is so poor that they still don't have Cheers, Seinfeld, Family Guy or even The Simpsons. They have Lost in Space, but not Spaceballs. They have Terminator 2, but not the first, the third or the fourth movie of the series.

I'm also pretty sure that these holes in their Canadian selection is due to our media companies who are keeping everything locked down into decade-long contracts. The joke's on them however, because not only am I not getting Netflix (their goal), but I'm also not getting their own overpriced and limited services (their loss).
Click to expand...


Same here in the U.S. Same problem like Netflix in Canada we do not get every TV series or Movies and if we did you better watch them fast they get removed so fast. Blame the stupid movie and TV studios they do not want people to have such an easy access for movies and TV series. One other thing I have a problem is that Netflix does not stream in 1080p and 5.1 Dolby surround on all players only some such as PS3 so it is really annoying for me to watch streaming in 720p, plus the streaming on Blu-ray fails it always loses connection and I do find it weird that I can watch Vudu in 1080p and 5.1 surround with no buffering and connection loss.
 
WeegieMac

WeegieMac

Guest
Jan 29, 2008
3,274
1
Glasgow, UK
How about the BBC gets it's finger out it's arse and brings back the iPhone version of the basic BBC iPlayer app in the UK. I'm using a web shortcut on my home screen to access the iPlayer site, but I'd like a dedicated app.

Come on, I pay £36 per quarter (grudgingly) for your ****** service as it is, so at least make the iPad app universal for UK iPhone users.
 
P

Pennine

macrumors 6502
Jan 17, 2008
250
0
Glossop UK
WeegieMac said:
How about the BBC gets it's finger out it's arse and brings back the iPhone version of the basic BBC iPlayer app in the UK. I'm using a web shortcut on my home screen to access the iPlayer site, but I'd like a dedicated app.

Come on, I pay £36 per quarter (grudgingly) for your ****** service as it is, so at least make the iPad app universal for UK iPhone users.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything you've wrote
The BBC don't listen though
 
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