For those of you who live outside the UK and want to take advantage of the BBC's on-demand service iPlayer, the BBC has confirmed today that they are planning to launch a global version of the service for the iPad only.
It would allow non-UK customers to subscribe to a range of current and classic BBC programs for monthly or yearly fee.
The app will be run by BBC Worldwide and the money raised would help supplement license fee income. Initially the Global iPlayer will be available in eleven countries across Europe, The Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with subscriptions costing £6.14 (€6.99) monthly or and annual cost of £44 (€49.99).
The Global BBC iPlayer iOS app will include two features that aren’t available to average UK users and they are the ability to download content to view offline and stream over 3G. This is something we’d love to see in the future for the UK version.
The look and feel of the app is very similar to the UK version – but their is one major difference: for the global version will offer a selection of new and old programs. The UK version is based a 7-day catch up model.
The BBC has suggested the service will expand to the iPhone before the end of the year but has yet to make any announcements about an Android app or support for any other platforms. It's likely that the project has avoided a web version of the service initially to leapfrog issues with deploying DRM.
The president of worldwide networks and global iPlayer for the BBC, Jana Bennett says, "We have an exciting vision for what this service could become and will develop it based on feedback from within the markets.
""¨"¨The UK version of the iPlayer for iPad app doesn't allow downloading for viewing without an Internet connection although the desktop version does, and the new functionality in the global version of the app could bring questions from UK users that do not have access to older programs.”
We’ve had a look on the the global app on iTunes and couldn't find it, so just when the app will becomes available isn't clear, but no doubt it will surface in due course. If you’ve found it please do let us know. As it is meant to be available today.