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BBC Planning To Launch Global iPlayer VoD Service

Posted by timothy on from the sounds-like-a-plan dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC is reportedly mulling over plans to come up with an international edition of its hugely popular iPlayer service, in a bid to allow global audiences to catch up with some of its top shows, according to BBC Worldwide, the corporation's profit-making arm. BBC Worldwide said that the move would help revamp its business model, and thereby help the corporation in raking in significant profits through its premium content."

3 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is it still Windows only? by ob0 · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, it's (mostly) Adobe only, using Flash for streaming (via RTMP) and AIR for downloaded programmes. The iPhone version uses HTTP streams. get_iplayer is a nice script to download iplayer content a little more permanently.

  2. Re:hugely popular? by Jawju · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not popular? It accounts for 5% of all UK network traffic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iplayer). Considering the other 95% is porn, that's still significantly popular.

  3. Re:Great! by ardle · · Score: 3, Informative
    BBC's sitcoms aren't great but they have loads of great "panel" shows: they're ostensibly quiz shows but participants are usually either comedians or victims.
    Examples:
    • Have I Got News For You: the first of this type - now has a "rotating" host since the original one had to leave after a prostitute/cocaine scandal (well, of course he had to turn up for one more show so that everyone else could make fun of him). The regular panelists are getting a bit lazy now - but the show has been running for more than 15 years. Think "The Daily Show" with less substance or heart but better insults.
    • Mock The Week: a newer version of the same thing but with explicit stand-up parts because it's 100% comedians. Google "Frankie Boyle", is all I can say.
    • Never Mind The Buzzcocks: music-oriented show where participants insult pop stars, frequently face-to-face. Chair seems to be rotating for this one now, too.
    • Would I Lie To You: quite new, a bit better-behaved than the others - but still entertaining

    I regularly watch all the above, even if they are "out-of-date"...