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iPlayer Coming Soon to the US via the iPad for $7 Per Month
LONDON – Three months after the BBC announced that the iPlayer was finally going to be
available to US residents “this fall” at a monthly subscription price of $7, the service is still
not ready to be launched on this side of the Atlantic.
Among the numerous BBC programmes that will be eventually available is EastEnders, albeit they
will be the current episodes broadcast in the UK – about seven and a half years ahead of what PBS
viewers see.
One big caveat of the iPlayer being available on US shores is that it will be accessible initially
only via the iPad. In Britain, the iPlayer is accessible via any computer connected to the Internet.
The other major difference, of course, is the subscription price. In the UK, the iPlayer is free, as a
value-added service of the licence fee that all television households must pay.
Choosing the iPad was purely a commercial decision on the BBC’s part. “We think we have a load of
unmet demand for BBC and British content internationally,” BBC.com managing director Luke Bradley-
Jones told The Guardian.
“We hope that this service becomes multi-device, multi-platform and multi-territory over time, but
as a premium-but-niche service, we did not want to go in with both feet from day one,” Bradley-Jones said.
