News - BBC iPlayer reaches global availability

[HEXUS]

The BBC's streaming video player is now available in 11 European countries, with more to come.

Read more.

[aidanjt]

You kinda skimmed over the bit where it's only for iPad users. What kind of stupid retarded crap is that?

[shaithis]

I hope they have to pay their license fee to use it!!

But no, they get to pay for only what they want to watch....I just hope the money goes to good use, although I guess the beeb did have a bit of a clearout a while ao.

[Funkstar]

No non-UK users don't have to pay the license fee, but then they don't get the same service that UK TV viewers get. iPlayer users don't need to pay for broadcast equipment and not all shows are available on iPlayer. I guess if you had two iPads in a house you would need to pay €7 for each. I can have as many TVs in my house as I like and still only pay the same license fee.

This is another revenue stream for the BBC, which should help to pay for the running of the organisation meaning either less cuts, more investment or less license fee increases.

[judge56988]

So I pay my license fee then when I go abroad, which I do frequently, I have to pay again?
No thanks.
(Not that it costs much, but it's the principal)

[Funkstar]

Well hopefully we'll see a way you could enter your TV license number (or something like that) to let you use iPlayer over seas.

It is a bit of an edge case though.

[andrewtorr]

nice to see my license fee is going to all the wrong places

[Chris M]

Well hopefully we'll see a way you could enter your TV license number (or something like that) to let you use iPlayer over seas.

It is a bit of an edge case though.

That would certainly have helped when I was in Australia and wanted to use BBC iPlayer

[HolograM]

nice to see my license fee is going to all the wrong places

How is it going to the wrong place?

In the UK, we pay a licence fee and get a service. Part of the service is that we get iPlayer, witout additional charge.

If you're abroard, you don't get converntional BBC services, but you can get iPlayer by paying a subscription. So that subscription revenue helps keep either the licence we pay down or the production of programs up, by selling a service that would otherwise generate nothing.

I can't see how getting revenue from abroad is anything but a win for both the BBC and UK licence-fee payers.

[oolon]

So long as the cost of providing the service is less that the money brought in from subscriptions, plus any investment to provide the service then it will be reducing licence fees. I am sure at the moment this has been a net cost to the licence fee payer (is you choice to ignore any oversees revenue the BBC currently gets), however I feel in future this will help subsidise the UK licence fee holder.