BBC iPlayer: It’s Coming

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced over 3 years ago that they were going to introduce an online On-Demand service.

This week, it came a step closer to all of us. The BBC announced that it will be released for Windows XP on the 27th of July, with Mac support following in the Autumn. Other platforms, such as Windows Vista and some Mobile devices, are expected in a similar timescale.

This is very good news. Due to the fact that the BBC decided to use Microsoft DRM for the iPlayer, it was thought for a long time through it’s development that it would be Windows only. However, due to a high-profile petition, as well as threats from the European Commission, it seems that the BBC has moved to bring the iPlayer to the Mac sooner rather than later. This can only be treated as good news for us on the Mac platform.

So what is the iPlayer and what does it do? iPlayer is the BBC’s new online, on demand service; seen as ‘the future’ of TV. It allows anyone within the UK to download a TV show within 7 days of it airing, and then store it for 30 days, before it is automatically deleted. Unfortunately, this form of DRM is very restrictive, although it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Did I mention it’s free? Well, included as part of the Licence fee.

The iPlayer has been a long time in the making, mainly due to the the unique way in which the BBC is run (it is publicly funded). This is normally good as we are guaranteed free TV in the UK; however, it has held the project back. The BBC’s director of Future Media and technology, Alan Highfield said during the launch: “Nobody wants to be the first to innovate and the last to implement”, also adding that the long process had been “frustrating”.

This is a step in the right direction for the BBC, especially as much of their content is produced on the Macintosh platform (ironic?). Unfortunately, we’ll be forced to wait until the Autumn to find out just how well the iPlayer will work. At launch, 400 hours of programming will be available, including Eastenders, Life on Mars, and Planet Earth.

As for America and the rest of the world; expect your commercial (i.e. payed for) iPlayer some time during 2008. MacApper will have a full review of the iPlayer when it becomes available.