The BBC has announced that the BBC iPlayer catch-up window has been extended to 30 days following approval from the BBC Trust.
Currently, you can only access programmes to stream or download for seven days after they are first broadcast, but this now will be extended to 30 days.
The implementation of the extension will not happen immediately though, thanks to a number of technical and legal hoops to jump through, but the BBC expects the changes to be made in the summer.
“People keep telling us that they want programmes to be available on BBC iPlayer for longer – so extending availability from seven to 30 days will make iPlayer even better,” said the BBC in a statement.
However, this catch-up window extension will come at the cost of the current series stacking option. You will lose the ability to retrospectively download multiple episodes of a TV series, with the BBC instead making individual episodes available for a longer period.
“With an average of 10.7 million programme requests every day, BBC iPlayer is highly valued by audiences and has been a phenomenal success since it launched six years ago,” said Diane Coyle, BBC Trust Vice Chairman. “It is important that iPlayer continues to evolve and meet the expectations of users.”
“We have conducted a thorough assessment of these proposals, including taking independent advice from Ofcom, and concluded that this is a sensible move that will benefit audiences and provide a clearer and more consistent catch-up service.”
In early March, the BBC unveiled a brand new version of the BBC iPlayer across multiple platforms, updating the service for what it calls the “multiscreen world.”
The new interface aims to make it easier to discover new content on iPlayer and offers special home pages for each BBC channel among other new features.
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