BBC iPlayer going international next year, will be either fee- or ad-supported

The BBC’s iPlayer video-on-demand service has been an unqualified success since its rollout back in 2007 and now it’s taking the next logical step in expanding its reach: it’s going global. Such is the word from John Smith, the generically named head of BBC Worldwide, who sees the international market for British shows as “under-exploited” and wants to see the iPlayer opened up beyond the Queen’s home isles. Of course, since continental Europeans and North Americans aren’t subject to the same backbreaking TV license fee, there’ll be a new commercial element to the service, though the Beeb’s bigwigs have yet to figure out if that means users will have to pay a levy or put up with some ads. Either way, we’ve got quite a few eager iPlayer viewers on our own staff, so we imagine whenever and however the switch does get flipped, it’ll be welcomed by all. BBC iPlayer going international next year, will be either fee- or ad-supported originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 08:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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