BBC iPlayer

iPlayer is the Video on Demand service offering from the BBC, allowing recently broadcast programmes to be watched again. It launched on the 25th December 2007 in the UK.

Using the catchphase "Making the unmissable, unmissable", iPlayer has proved very popular by providing access to the previous 7 days of television recently broadcast on the BBC terrestrial digital services.

Having a slick redesigned interface, watching BBC programmes again whenever you want has been made easy. The iPlayer ( as of June 2008 ) accounts for approxiamately 5% of all UK internet traffic, achieving around 5 million page views each day.

How iPlayer Compares

With a sleek black user interface, the iPlayer website is a joy to navigate. From the slidy left hand menus, the last 7 days of programmes, Categories or Channels can be viewed, along with an A-Z access panel.

The site feels very responsive and its extremely easy to navigate quickly to the most recent Doctor Who episode, or a missed Eastenders. With a 'Most Popular' section, you can quickly start watching favourite programmes at a single click of the mouse.

Once a programme is choosen, a brief summary of the particular episode, as well as the possibilty to download the whole video rather than stream it to your PC. Be warned though, BBC iPlayer uses DRM technology which means you can keep the downloaded video for a maximum of 30 days before it can no longer be watched!

Simply press the the "Click to Play" button and watch. Overall iPlayer is an excellent Video on Demand service from the BBC, the only down point being the DRM on the downloaded videos, but with so many positive points its a great choice for streaming programmes you missed the first time round.