Androids get iPlayer, overseas version to be 'tailored for different audiences'

The BBC got round to releasing its iPlayer app for Android devices in February, soothing a sore point for people who don’t like Apple.

Screenshots from iPlayer for Android

There was a version of the iPlayer made for the iPad before the device was even launched to the public (although the standalone apps were launched at much the same time), but Android tablet users have had to wait until their devices became fashionable enough, which has taken a while.

Trying it out on a Samsung Galaxy Tab it’s a fine app, pretty well indistinguishable in practice from the iPad app, the PS3/Wii version or the html5 ‘Bigscreen’ version accessible through web browsers, with a few formatting changes. It uses Flash, which doesn’t make anywhere near as much difference to the viewing experience as Steve Jobs would have you believe but will burn through your battery charge pretty quickly. It requires Android versions from 2.2, which might give big-screen users some scaling problems. Some users have reported problems with syncing audio and video, but I saw none.

It is, of course, only available to UK users, although there’s no licence fee verification. International BBC fans will have to wait a little longer until the overseas version arrives, although we do have some news about what will be available on it.

Details are still a little sketchy, but we can be sure that it won’t be the full catalogue of the past seven days of television and radio that the UK iPlayer presents. I asked the BBC what users would get for theirrumoured $10 per month, and they told me: ‘The global iPlayer will be different from the UK BBC iPlayer, which is a catch-up service. It will not be the BBC’s entire UK services for a year, seven days at a time, wrapped up in an app. Instead, the global iPlayer will be a combination of current and past ‘best of British’ shows, editorially tailored for different international audiences. Whereas the licence fee entitles UK households to receive a total of 10 TV channels, 15 national and 40 local radio services, BBC Online, BBC Mobile and BBC iPlayer – all free at the point of use.’

They also said that overseas sales brought the corporation £214.8 million in the 2009/10 financial year, which probably explains why it won’t be the full schedule. There would have to be 2.9 million subscribers to equal that income and, while it seems achievable with the rapid table take-up we’ve seen, they must be hoping to preserve some of that revenue by offering less to direct customers than to corporate broadcast buyers. This strikes me as less than audacious, but understandable. Legacy income is difficult to argue against when proposing new products in a risk-averse place like the BBC.