Bbc Iplayer Download
Rocki Stenger
BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services delivered to UK-based viewers feature no commercial advertising. The terms BBC iPlayer, iPlayer, and BBC Media Player refer to various methods of viewing or listening to the same content. To use the service, a valid TV Licence is required by law.[2]
In February 2011, the BBC iPlayer was once again modified to include links to programmes from other broadcasters, including ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, Channel 4, E4, More4, Film4, Channel 5, 5Star, 5USA and S4C. The feature was added to the search function and the channels function. When users click on a programme by another broadcaster they are redirected to the relevant broadcaster's catch-up service (either ITVX, the Channel 4 video on demand service or My5).[13]
The original iPlayer service was launched in October 2005, undergoing a five-month trial by five thousand broadband users until 28 February 2006. iPlayer was heavily criticised for the delay in its launch, rebranding and cost to BBC licence-fee payers because no finished product had been released after four years of development.[16] A new improved iPlayer service then had another very limited user trial, which began on 15 November 2006. At various times during its development iPlayer was known as the Integrated Media Player (iMP),[17][18] Interactive Media Player,[19] and MyBBCPlayer.[20]
The iPlayer received the approval of the BBC Trust on 30 April 2007 and an open beta for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 was launched at midnight on 27 July 2007, when it was announced that only a fixed number of people would be able to sign up for the service, with a controlled increase in users over the summer.[21] The BBC had been criticised for saying that the iPlayer would 'launch' on 27 July 2007, when what was on offer was simply an extension of the beta to an open beta, admitting more users in a controlled manner.[22] This was done reportedly to allow British ISPs and the BBC to gauge the effect of the iPlayer traffic on the Internet within the UK.
The open beta incorporated a media player, an electronic programme guide (EPG) and specially designed download client and allowed the download of BBC Television content by computers assigned to a United Kingdom-based IP address, for use up to thirty days after broadcast. However, it was available only to users of Windows XP.
This was a controversial decision by the BBC and led to a petition against the decision being posted on 10 Downing Street's e-petition website.[23] The petition reached 16,082 signatures on 20 August 2007. The response from the Government was:
.. the Trust noted the strong public demand for the service to be available on a variety of operating systems. The BBC Trust made it a condition of approval for the BBC's on-demand services that the iPlayer is available to users of a range of operating systems and has given a commitment that it will ensure that the BBC meets this demand as soon as possible. They will measure the BBC's progress on this every six months and publish the findings.[24][25]
On 16 October 2007, the BBC announced a strategic relationship with Adobe that would bring a limited streaming-only version of the iPlayer to Mac and Linux users and Windows users who cannot or do not wish to use the iPlayer download service, such as Windows 9x users.[26] The streaming service was launched on 13 December 2007.[27] Most programmes can be viewed for up to seven days after broadcast, unlike the thirty days provided by the download service.[27]
Before the iPlayer had even launched it was announced that the BBC, alongside ITV and Channel 4, was intending to launch a new video-on-demand platform, provisionally named Kangaroo. It was intended that Kangaroo would complement the video-on-demand services that these channels were already offering, including the iPlayer, by making programmes available once their 'catch-up' period had expired.[29] The Kangaroo project was eventually abandoned and sold to Arqiva after being blocked by the Competition Commission early in 2009.
Following a deal between the BBC and cable television provider Virgin Media, the iPlayer service was made available through the provider's on-demand service.[30] The cable service launched on 30 April 2008,[31] and keeps the look and feel of the BBC iPlayer programme.[31]
On 23 August 2008, a new feature, Series Stacking, was announced.[33] This feature was rolled out on 13 September 2008 and allowed viewers to watch previous programmes from selected series until the series had ended, with a limit of thirteen weeks after first broadcast.[34] Not all programmes will form part of the stack, however. The BBC Trust permitted 15% of content to be offered as part of the stacking service; soaps, news bulletins and review-based programmes will not be stacked, nor programmes containing material of a legal nature, such as Crimewatch.
On 19 December 2008, the BBC released, as part of the iPlayer Labs feature, iPlayer Desktop for OS X and Linux operating systems. This moved the download service away from the previous P2P-based distribution model and onto an HTTP download model.[35][36][37][38]
On 20 April 2009, the BBC incorporated high-definition streams and downloads of some content on the iPlayer. There are plans to roll out the HD streams to devices such as the Virgin Set Top Box but no date has yet been set. An iPlayer application for the PlayStation 3 was announced by Sony in August 2009 and was released on 1 September 2009 along with the Firmware 3.0 update to coincide with the launch of the slimline PlayStation 3.[39]
Another version of iPlayer was released in late 2009 as a 'channel' for the Nintendo Wii. This shows only low-definition videos of BBC shows up to seven days after their release on television. As of 2019, this version is unavailable due to the closure of the Wii Shop Channel.
Speaking in 2012, Ralph Rivera, BBC Director of Future Media, said: "In the same way as the BBC has a role in making sure there is a healthy TV ecosystem, the BBC should be playing the same sort of role in the digital sector. It's part of why we have a licence fee."[41]
BBC Radio services delivered via iPlayer were relaunched on 8 October 2012 under the BBC iPlayer Radio brand. The rebranded service offered different functionality from the main iPlayer interface and a BBC iPlayer Radio smartphone app was also launched.[42]
On 26 September 2013, BBC iPlayer Desktop was replaced by BBC iPlayer Downloads, which was no longer based on Adobe AIR. On the same date, the BBC stopped making programmes available to download in WMV format.[43][44]
The BBC discontinued the RSS feed for iPlayer TV content in October 2014.[45] This stopped some third-party tools such as the get_iplayer[46] content downloader from working.[47] In March 2016, an unofficial site restored access to this information.[48][49][50]
In September 2015, it was revealed that as part of Tony Hall's "open BBC" strategy, coming primarily in response to budget cuts across the BBC that would require it to discontinue or factor some of its services, the BBC planned to offer third-party content through iPlayer in the future, as well as launch a spin-off, iPlay, which would be tailored towards children's content.[51][52]
On 8 December 2020, chief content officer Charlotte Moore stated that the BBC would realign the leadership structure of its television services in April 2021 to prioritise the iPlayer, under which iPlayer Controller Dan McGolpin would become Portfolio Director for the iPlayer and the main BBC channels, and the role of Controller for each BBC channel would be replaced by a team of "portfolio editors" who would select programmes commissioned by the BBC's genre directors to be carried on the iPlayer and BBC channels.[55][56]
Before September 2016, a television licence was not required to stream either BBC television or radio programmes from the iPlayer that had already been broadcast, though a licence was still required in order to watch live content. Since 1 September 2016, a television licence has been required to view any iPlayer content, regardless of whether it is live or on-demand.[57] Despite the requirement, the enforcement of this measure uses only a trust system, under which users must acknowledge a pop-up window warning of the new requirements. Neither the BBC nor TV Licensing announced any specific plans to implement detection measures.[58]
In September 2016, the BBC also announced that users would eventually be required to sign in with a BBC ID account to access non-children's content on the service.[59][60] In May 2017, the iPlayer began to encourage users to login with a BBC ID in preparation for this change. Media outlets suggested that the account requirement was intended to help the BBC collect personal information that could be used to trace those who were evading TV Licensing whilst using the iPlayer; Andrew Scott, launch director of the ongoing myBBC initiative, stated that the BBC might use account email addresses, along with existing methods, to help identify iPlayer users who did not hold a television licence. However, he repeatedly said that the account system was primarily intended to provide personalization features across BBC properties, such as content recommendations on the iPlayer, and the ability to continue watching a programme on one device from where it was left off on another.[61][62][63]
One of the key features of the original iPlayer download service was the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) technology to enable the distribution of large video files (i.e. TV programmes) to scale effectively. Once downloaded, the content was only playable within the iPlayer itself or Windows Media Player 10 or 11, and subject to digital rights management.
In December 2008, the BBC moved to an Adobe AIR-based client that downloaded content via HTTP rather than P2P. The new system replaced the Windows DRM system with Adobe's own. DRM software prevents it from being directly copied to another medium (e.g. another computer or CD-ROM) and allowed the BBC to control how long the programmes remain watchable. Programmes were available for download for seven days following broadcast. Once a programme is downloaded, a user had thirty days to start watching it; after starting to watch, a programme remained available for the next seven days. Using the online streaming service, most programmes became unavailable from the website after seven days.
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