BBC iPlayer to comes to Freesat
On the 5th October Freesat announced the addition of the BBC iPlayer to the platform. This article reports my opinions and future desire for iPlayer.
Author: Matthew Wittering | Published: 5th November 2009
To my astonishment today (5th November 2009) I read on the BBC News website the iPlayer services for replaying programmes broadcasted during the previous severn days would be available on Freesat digital satellite platform. The greatest surprise was however still to come. As I continued to read the article I learned this is not a new effort. I read that it has been possible to view BBC iPlayer content on Virgin Media set top boxes since June 2008.
Freesat is a high definition satellite television and radio service available in the United Kingdom. It is marketed as an alternative to subscription services and Freeview. Owners of Freesat equipment have access to 140 standard and high definition channels with no subscription. Depending upon the specification of the hardware you purchase you will be able to pause and record television on your Freesat box.
What will I need to receive BBC iPlayer on freesat?
Once BBC iPlayer is fully available on freesat you will need a freesat HD digital box or freesat HD TV, which is connected to your home broadband. Full details on how to get connected will be made available here on freesat.co.uk when the service is ready to launch.
Quote 1: What will I need to receive BBC iPlayer on freesat?, Credit Freesat.
The addition of the BBC iPlayer content downloaded from the Internet will allow owners of Freesat products to watch BBC television and radio for one week following the original broadcast. The service is an important development. Streaming programmes time shrifted around the views other demands is important facility. Currently the iPlayer is available on Virgin Media devices, Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3. I hope soon other platforms will come online. Possibly included as standard functionality in future evoluions of televisions with widget platforms to include application to expand upon the initial functionality.
This current development is of great interest to me as I wish to have increasingly more power to choose the programmes I watch and when. An interesting addition I would like to see in the service however is RSS feeds similar to podcasts so I can subscribe to television programmes through the EPG to automatically download and save the content to my BBC iPlayer capable device. I would imagine this is not a challenging addition to the functionality and would cement this product as a legitimate alternative to live television.
Links
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8343350.stm
- http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/about_iplayer
- http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=help.Question&id=176
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence
I am a graduate of Lougborough University where I read Computing and Management BSc (Hons) earning a 2:1 classification.