BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an online service developed by the BBC which lets you catch up on the last week's television and radio. The service can be used from computers on the BBC website at bbc.co.uk. It can also be used from games consoles, cable television, smart phones and tablets.

BBC iPlayer

Developer(s)	BBC
Initial release	25 December 2007; 17 years ago (25 December 2007)
Stable release	3.2.15 / 13 July 2012; 12 years ago (2012-07-13)
Written in	JavaScript Adobe AIR Objective-C Java
Platform	Microsoft Windows macOS Linux iOS Android Apple TV Amazon Fire TV Chromecast Roku Virgin Media (Streaming only) Freesat (beta) Sky Go (part of on Demand service) Sky TV BT TV (part of on Demand service) Now TV PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One Windows Phone 8 YouView Wii U
Available in	English Welsh Scottish Gaelic[1]
Type	Media player software
License	TV licence
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer

BBC iPlayer was first called the Integrated Media Player (iMP),^[2][3] the Interactive Media Player,^[4] and then MyBBCPlayer.^[5] BBC iPlayer left Beta and went live on 25 December 2007.^[6] On 25 June 2008, it was announced that a new-look iPlayer would be launched.^[7] The new version is now live.

History

In July 2007 the BBC started a small BETA version of iPlayer as a trial service. During this BETA time, iPlayer was only available as a download (WMV format) meaning that any person who did not have Windows loaded on their computer could not use iPlayer. This was not a popular move, and the BBC was put under pressure to allow all people to use iPlayer.^[8]

On Christmas Day 2007, iPlayer was no longer in BETA. People could now also watch programmes on the website instead of having to download the video as people had to do before. This meant that people who did not have Windows installed on their computers could use iPlayer as well. This made iPlayer a lot more popular and easier to use, so much so that 3.5 million programmes were viewed in a fortnight.^[9]