iPlayer is available in Europe from today, via an iPad app stuffed full of classic BBC telly. Fawlty Towers, Top Gear and Doctor Who are among the programmes available through the Global iPlayer app, which differs from the iPlayer we know and love in a few crucial ways.
The Global iPlayer app, announced in December, "looks and feels similar to the UK iPlayer, but functions in a different way". International viewers pay a monthly subscription, and instead of the seven-day catch-up service we're familiar with, the app will showcase selected BBC shows, old and new.
An editorial team will curate shows by genre, seasons, or themes, involving classic and popular shows such as Only Fools and Horses, Sherlock and EastEnders. There'll be about 1,500 hours of programming initially, with 100 hours of new programmes added each month. Different countries will also be offered different shows.
Auntie's global family
BBC Worldwide probably has sound commercial reasons for curating content like this, but if we were foreign we'd want proper access to the iPlayer catch-up service -- and as Brits, we'd certainly love a crack at all that lovely archive stuff. Just think of all the classics in the BBC vault!
It's clear from even a glance at Twitter that the communal nature of telly-watching is now global. People in different countries want to watch and discuss telly at the same time -- and when we can't, we're more likely to turn to piracy. Nobody wants to wait six months for the new series of Sons of Anarchy or Breaking Bad or Doctor Who. Sky Atlantic reckons showing programmes such as Game of Thrones at roughly the same time as its US broadcast cuts down significantly on piracy.
Still, we love the Beeb, we love iPlayer, and we're glad to see its rich back catalogue of classic television earning money for the future of the Big British Castle.
Downloading Del Boy
European viewers will get one other feature not available in the UK iPad app: the ability to download stuff to watch when you're away from an Internet connection. Downloaded content can be kept as long as you keep paying your subscription. Brits can download from the desktop version of iPlayer, but not in the iPad app.
An iPhone launch is possible before the end of the year, but other platforms such as Android tablets and phones are a long way off. British holidaymakers also won't be able to use the app while on 'olidays abroad.
The global iPlayer launches in 11 European countries, as a trial before a proper global launch by the end of year. So if you own an iPad and live in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain or Switzerland, this is your chance to get acquainted with the best of British.
Laugh? I nearly paid my licence fee
The app costs €7 (£6) per month, or you can go for an annual subscription costing €50 (£44), roughly a third of the licence fee. The Euros earned will supplement licence-fee income. The Beeb hasn't said when US viewers will have access to the service.
Flicking over to the other side, ITV yesterday announced it will try micropayments for online telly in the UK at the end of the year, to see what people are prepared to pay for -- and how much. Stuff you'll have to stump up for will include bonus content such as webisodes, while the ITV Player catch-up service will remain free.
Are you foreign? Are you excited about Auntie on your iPad? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
- For all the latest telly news, clips and videos, channel-surf over to our sister site TV.com.
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Comments 9
Add your comment
Anonymous 28 July, 2011 12:57
i've seen benedict's gonads, and it ain't purty
Nathan Explosion 28 July, 2011 13:06
Good to see Americans paying to make OUR TV better...
All BBC need to do now, it sort out the utterly rubbish Android Tablet iPlayer app
Anonymous 28 July, 2011 17:14
Can't access unless your I tunes account isn't UK, great ! Because as an expat I was bound to have a French iTunes account, hmmm maybe not as I already had a uk one before I got here
Anonymous 28 July, 2011 18:16
Great....except that expats can't download it ! As far as I can see, this App is now available in the European i-Tunes stores, Germany, France etc but not in the UK store (presumably because BBC Worldwide aren't allowed to put it in there?).
Most UK expats will have their i-Tunes accounts set up with the UK store meaning that i-Tunes won't let them download it even though it's free!
Effectively, the only group of people who won't be able to use it, are the very people who have been waiting for it!
Anyway, this is a good first step trying to get it on the iPad, but for all those people without iPads , I think the Beeb should be looking to get the Global i-Player onto normal PCs and even better onto Connected TVs soonish!
Anonymous 28 July, 2011 22:34
I have been patiently waiting in Australia for this service - we have a poor relation of iplayer on OZ cable "UK TV" and so for me the fact that this new release is just Euro with no hint of whether or not its coming to OZ is simply pathetic. How come the same bbc shows can appear across world wide networks but the BBC cannot control its own worldwide rights to broadcast themselves? If they understood more about the psyche of the expat they'd understand that beeb means more to most of us than they guys in the UK.
Anonymous 29 July, 2011 08:27
Tried to download it as I am working in Germany and the store tells me it is not available. how do i get to use the German store?
Anonymous 29 July, 2011 12:17
Why on earth do the beeb think its acceptable to consistently treat android users as second class license fee payers?
Anonymous 29 July, 2011 12:26
Will I be forced to buy an iPad to watch this in the Netherlands? But I don't want to, I don't like Apple.
The BBC and Apple: the forces of light in cahoot with the forces of darkness.
Anonymous 1 August, 2011 22:41
Is Apple going to be taking a 30% cut of the subscription fee? As an Apple hater I'm not going to be happy if Apple make money on content my license fee paid for!
Should've been web based.