Catch up TV will add value to television, not take it away, the head of BBC Worldwide tells an Australian audience.
The BBC’s UK iplayer, funded by British licence fees, is a catch-up model, while the global iplayer, soon to arrive in Oz, will not offer catch-up but will be a mixture of current and classic content, says the BBC Worldwide.
The iplayer, the UK equivalent to ABC’s iView, was first set up back in 2007.
The IPTV service is an internet television designed to deliver programmes and other content , although is not yet available here, is likely to be a paid-for service for international viewers.
The iplayer radio service, however, is accessible online here.
Last month iplayer upped its UK offering to include links to other channels on its network like ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, Channel 4, E4, More 4, Film 4, Channel 5, 5, 5USA and S4C.
Users can also integrate it with their BBC Online account, which also allows access to Facebook and Twitter.
However, the onslaught of on demand services has led many to believe it could spell the end of TV as we know it although the BBC feel the opposite is the case.
“The iPlayer won’t cannabilise TV,” Jana Bennett, President of BBC Worldwide Networks and Global iplayer believes, who is the woman in charge of the global rollout of the streaming service.
BBC’s worldwide channels in Australia are UKTV, BBC Knowledge, BBC World News and CBeebies.
Instead, it will “add to audience experience” of TV and will give the medium further power, Bennett said at the Astra Pay TV conference yesterday.
And it looks like the ABC here feel the same and are seeking to integrate their iView service into new technology like iPad’s and Smartphones.
Late last year, the broadcasting house announced a joint project with Samsung to add iView to its range of Internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players.
