BBC Selling TV Programmes On iTunes February 20, 2008
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The BBC is planning to sell its otherwise free programmes on iTunes. A selection of programmes like Ashes To Ashes, Little Britain, Life on Mars, Torchwood and others, will be available to download on iTunes for £1.89 per episode.
The irony is that you can get many of these programmes already - for free – using the BBC’s iPlayer catch-up TV service. If you in the UK. iPlayer has been hugely popular since its official launch at the end of last year with up to 17 million downloads since Christmas [more on this later].
“We want to give audiences a wide variety of options on how and where to view their favourite BBC shows," said Simon Danker, Director of Digital Media at BBC Worldwide. “With more people now choosing to watch TV shows on their iPods, fans of series such as The Mighty Boosh and The Catherine Tate Show can now enjoy those shows wherever they are.”
I know, maybe Mac users, who have been left out in the cold by the Beeb with iPlayer streaming, but not downloads, might fancy buying the programmes that PC users are getting for free? Or maybe not.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
Comments
What a disgrace. So that's why the BBC kept stuttering over excuses for PC only downloads. We pay the overly inflated license fee just to get screwed again? No thanks, Auntie.
Cathrine Tate's shit anyway.
If the BBC are going to provide higher quality videos then it may be worth paying for, but not at £1.89 an episode. If they're the same quality as on iPlayer then anyone that does pay is a fool, and I'm sure mac users can find them on torrent sites anyway.
I agree re cathrine tate, I've never found her funny.
Erm, you seem to be missing the point here. You can only watch iPlayer downloads for a short period of time after the program is first aired, otherwise you will have to wait 'til it comes out on dvd. Since you have to pay for dvds why not iTunes? Yes the price is a bit steep, but you're paying for convenience.
And there was me thinking that the license fee covered things like this. I dare say I won't be considering paying the beeb another penny!
Hey-diddle-de-dee, I'm sticking to torrents, me!
I think it is fair to say that services such as iPlayer and BBC terrestrial channels are only available to UK residents. This seems like a natural step for the Beeb to look at further enhancing it's overseas distribution. I'm sure there will be a number of English speakers abroad who will welcome this addition, certainly after their appetites have been whet by free snippets on youtube. As for the scandal, that you will have to pay again for any content, there are a lot that already buy BBC DVDs with no complaints, and let us not forget that this BBC revenue funds some of the revolutionary content that they produce. I applaud the BBC for making their content available to others who are willing to pay.