BBC to launch global subscription TV app for iPad
The BBC plans to launch its iPlayer app as a commercial subscription iPad offering outside the UK, initially targeting viewers in the US.
According to a report by the Financial Times, the BBC's plans are still being fleshed out.
Currently, the BBC offers a free iPlayer web app exclusively to UK residents, who already pay TV licensing fees to support the company's programming. Because it is not allowed to charge for content in the UK, the BBC is working to offer paid subscription access to its content in foreign markets, with the US being one of its first targets.
The report cited Luke Bradley-Jones, managing director of BBC.com, as saying the service would debut as a paid subscription product, "in part to get audiences used to using the service, but more importantly so we can generate additional value from the service in terms of the user data that it gives us."
Bradley-Jones also said the BBC was "planning for the Global iPlayer to initially launch just on the iPad platform, as it provides such potential to develop a truly interactive video-on-demand service, and also maps pretty nicely on to our core target audience for the service.?
Eventually, the BBC hopes to branch out to offer a combination of subscription access, digital downloads, and pay per view offerings, and is looking into opportunities to work with advertisers to sponsor free content.
Part of the BBC's motivation to reach markets outside of the UK stems from limitations it has agreed to make at the behest of competing commercial rivals in broadcasting and publishing. Among other restrictions, the BBC has agreed to not expand into magazine publishing, local journalism, and the online market, and has frozen the TV license fee for UK households.
The UK government charges its residents an annual "colour TV" license fee of £145.50 ($227 US), which is used to support television and radio broadcasts and production, and also covers the online delivery of its programming, including mobile delivery via its free iPlayer web app.
According to a report by the Financial Times, the BBC's plans are still being fleshed out.
Currently, the BBC offers a free iPlayer web app exclusively to UK residents, who already pay TV licensing fees to support the company's programming. Because it is not allowed to charge for content in the UK, the BBC is working to offer paid subscription access to its content in foreign markets, with the US being one of its first targets.
The report cited Luke Bradley-Jones, managing director of BBC.com, as saying the service would debut as a paid subscription product, "in part to get audiences used to using the service, but more importantly so we can generate additional value from the service in terms of the user data that it gives us."
Bradley-Jones also said the BBC was "planning for the Global iPlayer to initially launch just on the iPad platform, as it provides such potential to develop a truly interactive video-on-demand service, and also maps pretty nicely on to our core target audience for the service.?
Eventually, the BBC hopes to branch out to offer a combination of subscription access, digital downloads, and pay per view offerings, and is looking into opportunities to work with advertisers to sponsor free content.
Part of the BBC's motivation to reach markets outside of the UK stems from limitations it has agreed to make at the behest of competing commercial rivals in broadcasting and publishing. Among other restrictions, the BBC has agreed to not expand into magazine publishing, local journalism, and the online market, and has frozen the TV license fee for UK households.
The UK government charges its residents an annual "colour TV" license fee of £145.50 ($227 US), which is used to support television and radio broadcasts and production, and also covers the online delivery of its programming, including mobile delivery via its free iPlayer web app.
Comments
The BBC plans to launch its iPlayer app as a commercial subscription iPad offering outside the UK, initially targeting viewers in the US.
People are not used to paying for access to a single network. Is this the wave of the future? Paying for a subscription app for every TV channel that you might ever want to watch?
I'm pretty sure I don't want that sort of thing.
Go Beeb!
People are not used to paying for access to a single network. Is this the wave of the future? Paying for a subscription app for every TV channel that you might ever want to watch?
I'm pretty sure I don't want that sort of thing.
Isn't this the "A La Carte" option many people have been looking for?
People are not used to paying for access to a single network. Is this the wave of the future? Paying for a subscription app for every TV channel that you might ever want to watch?
I'm pretty sure I don't want that sort of thing.
My cable company, Rogers, has a number of channels where you pay a specific monthly fee to access that one channel. Most channels are available in packages, but certain premium channels require individual payment.
I prefer that approach as opposed to a bunch of channels I pay for and don't watch.
People are not used to paying for access to a single network. Is this the wave of the future? Paying for a subscription app for every TV channel that you might ever want to watch?
I'm pretty sure I don't want that sort of thing.
The BBC produces four tv channels, a rolling news service, multiple radio stations, a dedicated hd channel and one of the largest back catalogues of programming in the world, it's a bit more than a single channel...
The BBC does not have an iOS iPlayer app. It is merely a link to the BBC's iPlayer page. It does have an iPad News app, but that does not have catchup programming on it.
Which is why they've announced they're about to launch one...
The BBC, who obviously need to protect their content as well, will launch on the iPad exclusively and not the Galaxy Tab or other Android tablets.
Could it be that the great Android openness is a blessing and a curse. It's just we don't hear very much about the curse.
To be honest I have some sympathy with the content providers on this one. If you are buying then DRM should be stripped, but if you are doing a subscription model then it just flat our doesn't work without DRM.
The BBC are the best thing about British TV. Fact.
Agreed and its quality faced its competitor to maintain a higher standards bar, something sorely lacking in the US of A
Agreed and its quality faced its competitor to maintain a higher standards bar, something sorely lacking in the US of A
I'm a huge fan of British television but there is no way I'd say that it's quality is higher than US television. They simply don't have the revenue or creative protections that US show have access to. Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite shows are from the UK, but they can't compare in scope to the best shows in the US.
People are not used to paying for access to a single network. Is this the wave of the future? Paying for a subscription app for every TV channel that you might ever want to watch?
I'm pretty sure I don't want that sort of thing.
There are really two very different replies to this question.
I will gladly pay $277/year for very high quality news with worldwide field reporting (not talking heads "entertainment" TV news) and no advertising. Worth it to me just for the news alone. But let's think about the ads...
Studies by Juliet Schor at Harvard show that for each extra hour watched per week of TV with typical US advertising, the average consumer buys about $300 extra product per year. You can say "but I really wanted to buy those things that looked good on the TV ads." Fine. Personally, BBC programming is worth more than $277 a year to me, and if I'm also saving $300 a year (x 7 if I watch an hour a day) in goo-gas I wouldn't have thought about buying, that $277 a year subscription is looking like a bargain.
On the ad value/cost, if you don't believe Schor's numbers, think about your time. Even if you are only sitting through 10 minutes of TV advertising per day, that's 60 hours/year of your time wasted. So if it's not worth $277/year to strip off the ads, you are saying your leisure time is worth less than $4.60/hour. Mine is worth more than that.
So, I expect to be subscribing to high quality channels. And for other services, I want the option of paying extra for the no-advertising variants. (And less likely to subscribe at all to services/channels that lack any no-ads variant.)
I'll wait for the next season of Sherlock.
Sherlock is good. Unfortunately they are only going to be doing the 3 episodes per series. At least they are 1.5 hours, which makes each one a bit like a made-for-TV-movie.
Steven Moffat is one of my favorite TV writers on either side of the pond.
Netflix won't launch on Android because it lacks generic copy protection system.
The BBC, who obviously need to protect their content as well, will launch on the iPad exclusively and not the Galaxy Tab or other Android tablets.
Could it be that the great Android openness is a blessing and a curse. It's just we don't hear very much about the curse.
The BBC iPlayer uses Flash so it should work on the most recent version of Android without even requiring an Android App. Of course they might need to improve the performance of Flash on Android devices.
Content protection is the one big advantage Flash still has over HTML5.
Netflix uses Silverlight.