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| BBC iPlayer |
| BBC iPlayer is a free service that lets you catch up with programmes from the past seven days that you may have missed or want to watch again. There are two ways to use this service. You can play a programme and watch it online with ‘Click to play', or you can download the programme, store it on your computer for up to 30 days and watch it offline. Please note that BBC TV programmes and live TV streams are only available to users in the UK at present, though most radio programmes are available outside the UK as well.
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The BBC iPlayer Desktop, allows allows you to download and enjoy your favourite BBC programmes without being connected to the Internet (once you have downloaded programmes).
Go to the BBC iPlayer install page, click the install button and follow the on screen prompts. The programme you have chosen to download will begin downloading automatically once the installation of the BBC iPlayer Desktop completes. Downloading from BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK (UK ip address required). |
| BBC iPlayer Website |
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| BBC TV Streams |
The BBC streams BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News, BBC Parliament, BBC Alba, CBBC, and CBeebies, through the iPlayer.
Quality is quite good, though if you view in full screen, the quality will suffer.
You could also connect your computer directly to you TV and watch the live channels, again picture quality is watchable, though nowhere near as good as transmissions from digital terrestrial or satellite.
All BBC live streams on iPlayer use Digital Onscreen Graphics (DOGs).
At present, most of the BBC's television channels are streamed at a bitrate of 500 kbps, using the VP6 video codec, audio is streamed at 128 kbps MP3.
BBC One streams at a bitrate of 800 kbps, using the H.264 codec, the channels audio is 96 kbps AAC+ (same quality as 192 kbps MP2).
H.264 is a high-performance video compression technology. Compared to On2 VP6 AK 3.5, H.264 delivers sharper video quality at a lower bitrate, though it requires more CPU power to decode, particularly on older machines, and the user needs to have the latest version of Flash installed.
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| NOTE: All live BBC TV streams are restricted to UK only IP addresses (Geoblocked). |
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| BBC Radio Streams |
All of the BBC's national, local and regional stations along with the BBC World Service are available to listen to live on the internet (rights permitting), with appropriate media player software.
It is also possible to listen to BBC Radio services via the internet without having to log on to a computer. The easiest way to do this is via a WiFi or Internet Radio. These radios pick up radio stations streamed on the internet via a broadband connection to the radio.
There are no UK only IP restrictions on BBC radio, for more information and direct links to the various BBC stations see BBC National Radio. |
| Visit the BBC Radio Website for information on reception and programming. |
| Radio Bitrates on BBC iPlayer |
The BBC iPlayer uses Flash-based streams for live radio as well as on-demand radio on all BBC UK national radio stations (that's stations like BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 7, or the BBC Asian Network).
Flash Player is already installed in many corporate environments - and, since Flash is in use on many other websites (including the video for BBC iPlayer), the BBC iPlayer requires Flash Player v9.0.115 or above - which has been freely available since December 2007.
Flash is the BBC's default player format.
In the UK, most streams are 128kbps AAC, 192kbps AAC for Radio 3, which has a wider dynamic level, and 96kbps AAC for BBC Radio 5 Live, which is only available in mono.
AAC is much more efficient than MP3 at the same bitrate, and thus gives a significantly better sound, these bitrates are the same for both live and on-demand radio.
Outside of the UK, the BBC also uses Flash-based streaming:
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| for both live and on-demand. For overseas listeners, they are using 48 kbps HE-AAC v2 format stereo streams (known ACC+) for all stations, excepting BBC Radio 5 Live which is a 32kbps HE-AAC v1 mono stream. Just as the UK, these bitrates are the same for both live and on-demand radio. |
- 128 kbps AAC provides the same level of audio quality as 256 kbps MP2 on DAB
- 96 kbps AAC+ provides the same level of audio quality as 192 kbps MP2 on DAB
- 64 kbps AAC+ provides the same level of audio quality as 128 kbps MP2 on DAB (this is for mono - different for stereo)
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| NOTE: Most BBC radio stations also offer a low bandwidth version, streaming at 48 kbps. |
| NOTE: Most BBC local radio stations stream at 128 kbps AAC in the UK, overseas the streams are 48 kbps. |
| Select your English Local Radio station HERE. |
Station |
UK Bitrate |
Non UK Bitrate |
Audio |
Description |
| BBC Radio 1 |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Joint Stereo |
Youth orientated Popular music and speech. |
| BBC Radio 2 |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Joint Stereo |
Adult-oriented Pop Music |
| BBC Radio 3 |
192 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Joint Stereo |
Classic Music |
| BBC Radio 4 |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Joint Stereo |
News & Speech |
| BBC Radio 5 Live |
80 kbps AAC |
32 kbps AAC+ |
Mono |
Live news and sport (some UK only ip restrictions apply) |
| BBC Radio 5 Live Sp Extra |
80 kbps AAC |
32 kbps AAC+ |
Mono |
Live news and sport (some UK only ip restrictions apply) |
| BBC 6 Music |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Joint Stereo |
Classic rock Alternative rock Funk Indie Jazz Hip Hop |
| BBC Radio 7 |
80 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Mono |
Comedy, Drama, and Children's programming |
| BBC 1Xtra |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Joint Stereo |
New Black / urban music |
| BBC Asian Network |
64 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC+ |
Mono |
South Asian orientated |
| BBC World Service |
64 kbps AAC |
64 kbps AAC+ |
Mono |
English language version of the BBC World Service |
| BBC Radio Scotland |
128 kbps AAC |
80 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
National radio for Scotland. |
| BBC Radio Nan Gàidheal |
128 kbps AAC |
80 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
Scottish Gaelic language station. |
| BBC Radio Wales |
128 kbps AAC |
80 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
National radio for Wales. |
| BBC Radio Cymru |
128 kbps AAC |
80 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
Welsh language service. |
| BBC Radio Ulster |
128 kbps AAC |
80 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
National radio for Northern Ireland. |
| BBC Radio Foyle |
128 kbps AAC |
80 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
Local radio station, serving the North West of Northern Ireland. |
| BBC Radio Guernsey |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
BBC local radio for Guernsey. |
| BBC Radio Jersey |
128 kbps AAC |
48 kbps AAC |
Joint Stereo |
BBC local radio for Jersey. |
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| TV Platforms |
| Freesat |
On 21 December 2009, BBC iPlayer was made available on a soft launch to Freesat viewers with Humax Foxsat HD receivers only, with an official release on 11 January 2010. It is the final beta version of iPlayer, available via the red button on interactive page 7001.
On 20 January 2010, Sony released software update 1.630SA to enable BBC iPlayer on all of their Freesat integrated televisions.
On 25 March 2010, iPlayer was added to TechniSat receivers, with an update for Harvard International receivers released on 31 March.
However, the Harvard upgrade will not be available on early model standard definition Freesat receivers sold under the Bush, Goodmans and Grundig brands. Harvard International is therefore offering a replacement high definition receiver to anyone affected.
Panasonic had aimed to add iPlayer to all of its devices by October 2010,[60] though as of 2011 support has not been extended to the 2008 range.
LG have been unable to update their Freesat integrated LF7700 television and are therefore offering a free Freesat set-top box.
On 16 December 2010, BBC iPlayer was assigned to Freesat channel 901, in addition to access via the BBC Red Button. |
| Freeview |
BBC iPlayer is available on some Freeview HD receivers and on most Internet-enabled Freeview HD TVs.
Samsung Electronics became the first major manufacturer to officially announce that its televisions would be updated to include full access to the iPlayer through their Internet@TV service.
Sony added BBC iPlayer to its BRAVIA Internet Video service, included in its 2010 range of televisions and Blu-ray players. On 9 September 2010, iPlayer was added to Sony's BRAVIA televisions, having previously only been available on Blu-ray players. Televisions required a firmware update which could be upgraded over the internet or downloaded onto a USB flash drive for loading directly to the TV.
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| Sky |
| BBC iPlayer is available on Sky. |
| Virgin Media |
You can now catch up on selected TV series for longer than 7 days. With series catch up, once an episode has been shown on TV you can watch it and up to 13 of the previous episodes again on BBC iPlayer.
Press red on any BBC TV channel and select BBC iPlayer and then Series Catch Up or
Press Home or On Demand, go to Catch Up TV - any TV series that has series catch up will have all the available shows listed together with the date they were shown on TV.
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| BT Vision |
On 27 May 2008, BT began to charge BT Vision customers £3 per month for watching BBC Replay, a cut down version of iPlayer offering a more limited 30 hours of BBC programming per week. A spokesman for BT said that its customers had previously been able to view only BBC on-demand content because of "technical issues". A BBC spokesman said: "In line with other TV platforms where BBC programmes are made available on demand, the BBC requires that all public service content should be accessible via the lowest cost subscription tier. In this case, it is BT Replay."
From 1 April 2009, the Replay package was included in all of BT Vision's Value Packs but remains available as a separate, £2.93 per month, package to non-subscribers.
On 11 November 2010, the BBC and BT announced plans to bring the full BBC iPlayer package to BT Vision, eventually replacing the BBC content on BT Vision's existing 50-hour "TV Replay" package. BT Vision will introduce BBC iPlayer in a five month phased release, starting in early December.
All BT Vision customers will be able to access the service by April 2011. |
| YouView |
| BBC iPlayer was one of four service available at the launch of YouView in July 2012. At launch the BBC iPlayer app contained options to resume watching recent programmes, access favourites, browse the most popular shows, find similar programmes or more episodes, included integrated search and was the only service to feature HD video. |
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| Games Consoles |
| PlayStation 3 |
You can stream, though not download, programmes onto your PlayStation 3. First you need to make sure you have the latest PlayStation 3 updates installed. Once you are set up and you are connected to a fast enough internet connection (at least 1Mbps), all you need to do is head to the BBC iPlayer homepage.
From there you can select a range of programmes that you can Click to Play (streaming) - simply select a programme and when its page loads, click on the image to make it appear full-screen. You can then Click to Play.
In September 2009, the PS3 iPlayer was also upgraded by the BBC to provide H.264 playback and full screen content. |
| Nintendo Wii |
To start using the BBC iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii, you will need to connect your Wii console to the Internet and download the Opera web browser from the Wii Store (Which costs 500 Wii points or about £3.50).
Before you can buy Wii points to purchase the Opera web browser you will first need to register online at www.nintendo-europe.com and "link" your Wii console to the Nintendo account you just created online, Nintendo have a guide on how to link your Wii Shop Channel Account to your Club Nintendo Account.
Once you have linked your account to your Wii console you need to go to the Wii Shop accessed from the Wii Home Menu on the console and purchase (by using a credit or debit card to buy some Wii points) and download the "Internet Channel".
From the Wii Home Menu select "Internet Channel" and navigate to www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer, you can then use your Wii remote to zoom, pan and scroll around the web and the iPlayer.
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| See: BBC iPlayer On Wii |
| Xbox 360 |
A deal between the BBC and Microsoft has been unable to be reached, because Microsoft’s strategy of charging for all content on its Xbox Live platform is incompatible with the BBC’s public service remit.
Microsoft wants to ensure that only those paying for Xbox Live Gold accounts can access its additional content services. The BBC is not legally permitted to charge the UK public for access to the iPlayer, as the access charges for it are already included in the BBC licence fee.
As of November 2010, Microsoft is still considering BBC iPlayer for Xbox 360. Head of Xbox UK Steven McGill told Eurogamer that the firm is still discussing how it can add original features to the service. |
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| Mobile Devices |
BBC iPlayer is available on supported mobile devices and is a UK only service. You can play programmes via a Wi-Fi or 3G connection, depending on your phone and network.
For a list of all supported mobile devices see the Can I access BBC iPlayer on my mobile phone? page. |
| You can access BBC iPlayer on your mobile phone by: |
• typing www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer into the internet browser on your mobile phone
• downloading either the BBC iPlayer Android App
• downloading the BBC iPlayer iPhone App
• downloading the BBC iPlayer BlackBerry App
• downloading the BBC iPlayer Nokia App (Symbian OS, not for Windows Phone) |
BBC iPlayer is a free service, but mobile network operators may charge for data used over their networks. Data allowances and mobile network tariffs are the responsibility of the mobile network operators. If you are unsure how much 3G data costs or what your data allowance is then contact your mobile network operator.
Certain programmes, including some sporting events and films, may not be available on the mobile version of BBC iPlayer because of rights agreements, even if they are available on the PC version.
In addition to streaming services, some mobile devices support playback of programme files that have been downloaded from BBC iPlayer to your computer before transferring them (sideloading) to a mobile device. Visit What is Sideloading FAQ for further information. |
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