The BBC has announced the evolution of its BBC iPlayer alongside the addition of a BBC One +1 channel and a new digital music product.
It’s been a pretty busy morning for the BBC, as the company has announced its plans for the future of its BBC iPlayer on demand service as well as a new catch up channel and BBC Playlister, a music product launched in conjunction with popular streaming services.
Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, held a briefing this morning to announce the new products and outlined how BBC iPlayer will be changing in the future.
“The new generation of BBC iPlayer is set to transform our relationship with audiences,” explained Hall. “It will be a relationship where we provide audiences with what they want, when and how they want it. And crucially through enhanced interactivity, they will also be able to tell us what they think of these programmes and services too.”
Improvements to the existing BBC iPlayer will be made in three crucial areas including improving content variety, adding new ways to watch and additional features.
The BBC will be adding new online and pop-channels for special events, and will add TV content to the on demand service ahead of it being broadcast live. The catch-up window will also be increased from 7 to 30 days.
There will also be a BBC One +1 channel launching at some point in the near future.
“This is brilliant news for BBC One viewers, it means the content we pay for delivers even more value for audiences,” said Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC One. “In a world of increased choice, +1 will enable licence fee payers to have even more access to our broad range of programmes every day.”
The BBC is also launching the BBC Playlister, which allows users to add and save tracks heard on the BBC to their personal online playlist.
Launching on PC and mobile browsers, the BBC Playlister remembers tracks and exports them to services like Spotify, YouTube and Deezer to listen to in full. Other services will be added over the coming months.
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