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BBC Quietly Announces Linux/Mac iPlayer

Posted by kdawson on from the no-downloads-for-you dept.

Keir Thomas writes "When the BBC released its new iPlayer watch-on-demand service, there were many complaints about the fact it was Windows-only — the equivalent of current BBC broadcasts only being watchable on, say, a Sony television. The good news is that the BBC has announced a Flash-based player for Linux and Mac due by the end of the year. (The announcement is buried half way down the page.) The bad news is that it will probably only offer streaming, and not the ability to download programs, like the Windows client has. Quote: 'It comes down to cost per person and reach at the end of the day.'"

6 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Equivalent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Do 90-95% of British TV viewers actually own Sony brand TVs?

  2. Help please - need instructions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Hi,

    I recently purchased some niggers but they did not come with any documentation. Is there some kind of instruction manual around?

    Thanks,

    CmdrTaco

    1. Re:Help please - need instructions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      that's the thing about Niggers, you give them instructions not the other way around.

  3. Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I don't give a flying fuck about about the BBC. Talk about a socialist waste.

  4. Where is my OpenVMS player?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Those bastards at the BBC are completely ignoring the OpenVMS market. I have a number of VAX systems in my parent's basement that I keep running with OpenVMS being the OS. To get any sort of music or video, the media giants of the industry are colluding to force me to use a more popular OS such as the wildly successful Theo de Radtt's "OpenBSD". Well, I won't have any of that sort of secret monopoly collusionary bloatware in my house. I have 8MB of memory and I'm running OpenVMS just fine and I can listen to .AU format files! Yay! Long live free media!

  5. It's not cost per person, it's a different market by Opportunist · · Score: -1, Troll

    Dear BBC. I know many people, especially people who dumped Windows a while ago, who don't own a TV either (or if they do, shun standard TV for the simple reason that they want to decide when to watch what, not wait for some program and then sit through 10 minutes of ads for 5 minutes of program).

    In other words, until you open your service to Linux and/or Mac, you will not reach those people at all. If anything, creating this service means that you will open yourself a new market. People who have neither Windows nor TV (yes, they exist. And their number grows). And it's like always, the first one in the market will have the strongest muscle once it becomes mainstream.

    So I'd hurry. I'm fairly sure other TV networks are finding out that more and more people use their TV (provided there's one existing at all) as the display frontend for their content, stored on a linux box.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.