iplayer

The BBC announced last week that its online catch-up service, the BBC iPlayer, has achieved a new monthly record, having for the first time generated over 100 million requests. The service is now available on over 20 devices, and the BBC says that the last two weeks of December saw a huge increase in the number of people accessing it through a games console: according to the corporation, one in eight of all iPlayer TV show requests is now coming from either a Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 console, representing a 74% increase over November.

As expected, the BBC governing body, the BBC Trust, has provisionally approved the BBC's further participation in Project Canvas, an initiative on which the corporation is partnering with UK public service broadcasters, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, and UK ISP's, BT and Talk Talk, in order to attempt to develop a common standard and interface for the delivery of online catch-up services such as the BBC iPlayer, the ITV player and 4oD, as well as other Internet-based services (including VOD and interactive TV widgets), to broadband-connected Freeview and Freesat set-top boxes (note: the partn

The BBC has announced the line-up of content that will be available through its red-button interactive TV service this week:

UK-based consumer electronics company, Cello Electronics, on Wednesday announced the launch of a line of LCD HDTV sets, called iViewer, that allow users to stream the BBC iPlayer--as well as a range of other broadband video services (note: in its promotional materials for the new devices, the company mentions YouTube--which recently signed deals to offer full-length programming from UK terrestrial broadcasters, Channel 4 and Five--Disney Movies Preview, Movie Rush, Autocar, Sky Sports "Boots n' All," the CNN daily video podcast, Jamie's Ministry of Food, Delicious TV Veg, Revision3, Diggnation and the Larry King video podcast)--directly, without the need for a set-top box or games console.

The BBC has announced the line-up of content that will be available through its red-button interactive TV service for the next two weeks and beyond:

Flumotion, a Barcelona-based company best known for developing an open source multi-format video streaming software that it claims allows streaming of content "live and on-demand in all the leading formats from a single server," contacted [itvt] Wednesday to let us know about a new broadband video service it has developed for Spanish broadcaster, Cuatro.

In a posting on the BBC Internet Blog earlier this week, Rahul Chakkara, controller of TV platforms for the corporation's Future Media & Technology arm, provided an overview of the work the BBC is doing to develop standard versions of its BBC iPlayer broadband VOD service for TV platforms (note: according to the corporation, since the iPlayer launched on the Virgin Media cable platform in June, 2008, that platform has accounted for 200 million iPlayer programs viewed--i.e. over a quarter of all iPlayer viewing). Among other things, he revealed that a beta deployment of the iPlayer is scheduled to take place on the UK's free-to-air satellite TV service, Freesat, by the end of November.

Here is a round-up of some other interactive TV-related stories we didn't have room for in this issue (as well as stories from the CTAM Summit in Denver, which our editorial team was unable to attend):

The BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, has rejected a proposal from the BBC Executive which envisioned the formation of an online federation between the corporation and the UK's other public service broadcasters (i.e. ITV, Channel 4 and Five) that would make content from those broadcasters available on the BBC iPlayer catch-up service through a combination of commercial and public service elements.

Because of the large volume of news generated by the ongoing IBC show in Amsterdam, and because the [itvt] editorial team is currently traveling in the UK, we are covering a number of this issue's news stories in round-up/summary form. We anticipate some additional interruption of our regular news publishing schedule in the coming days, so we apologize in advance for any inconvenience to our readers. Here is the round-up:

UK newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, citing "sources close to the negotiations," reports that BBC director general, Mark Thompson, is in talks with Google chairman and CEO, Eric Schmidt, about launching an international version of the BBC's online VOD catch-up service, the BBC iPlayer (allows viewers to watch BBC shows for up to a week after their linear-TV broadcast), that would be "supported in some way" by YouTube and that could be accessed internationally (note: the BBC iPlayer is currently geo-restricted to users in the UK) free-of-charge. However, the newspaper says that "the process has been mired" by the need for international rights clearance for the BBC's programs, many of which are produced by third parties.

The BBC has launched a version of its online catch-up service, the BBC iPlayer, for children six and under. The launch of the new player, which features around 35 hours of programming per week from the BBC's CBeebies channel (i.e. around 40% of the channel's total output), follows the launch last year of a dedicated iPlayer service offering programming from CBBC, a BBC channel targeted at six- to 12-year-olds.

UK cable operator, Virgin Media, has begun offering the recently launched HDTV version of the BBC's BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service (note: for more on the HD BBCi Player, see the article posted on itvt.com April 16th) on its VOD platform to the approximately 520,000 Virgin customers equipped with the company's V+ HD set-top box. HD programming currently available through the service includes "Robin Hood," "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" and "Later...with Jools Holland"; HD programming slated to be available through the service in the near future includes two "Doctor Who" specials and the shows "Dragon's Den" and "Kerwhizz."

In a posting on its Web site, Thursday, the BBC announced that its catch-up service, the BBC iPlayer (which it says has generated over 387 million requests to stream or download since its launch on December 25th, 2007), is to start offering HD streams and downloads of certain programs. The corporation also said that the updated iPlayer will now offer a diagnostic tool that examines each end-user's Internet connection and switches the player to whichever streaming option will provide the best viewing experience. In addition, the iPlayer will now allow users to customize the size of its viewing window. "Introducing HD streams [allows] users to enjoy BBC programs in HD without a set-top box," Anthony Rose, the BBC's head of digital media technology, said in a prepared statement.

--Service Employs Microsoft Silverlight
--BBC iPlayer Now Accessible through Sky Player

UK satellite TV provider, BSkyB has launched a subscription-based broadband video service, called Sky Player TV, which features both linear channels and VOD and which--unlike its existing Sky Player service--is offered as a standalone product, rather than as a complementary service for subscribers of its flagship pay-TV service (note: the company will continue to provide subscribers to its flagship pay-TV service with access to Sky Player's line-up of on-demand content, in line with their core subscription; subscribers to its Sky Multiroom and Sky Broadband Max offerings also have access to linear channels).