The BBC continues to be at the forefront of delivering television online. The catch-up, on-demand iPlayer has been a huge success, and while YouView may end up being a turkey, at least it’s an attempt at forging the future. As is a new Facebook app from BBC Sport.

Wimbledon Beta

The BBC Sports app went live on Facebook a few days into the Wimbledon tennis championships, with up to six simultaneous streams from the All-England Club at any one time. At the time of writing only the finals remain, with Andy Murray exceeding expectations by making it to the men’s singles final.

However, the app will really come into its own when the London 2012 Olympics begins on Friday July 27. For the fortnight of the Games the BBC Sports app will play host to 24 streams showing live coverage of individual events.

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YouView has been delayed once more, and this latest missed target means the set-top box and related platform won’t be out by the time the London 2012 Olympics begins. The question is whether this actually matters or not.

YouView

YouView, which grew out of Project Canvas, has taken far too long to come together. With Alan Sugar added to the process the set-top box technology finally began being tested in the wild last month, but it’s still not going to be commercially available in time for the Olympic Games.

This wouldn’t ordinarily be an issue, but when we’re in the midst of huge companies testing the streaming waters a delay of any length could prove fatal.

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YouView is almost ready to be launched onto the public, a public that is unlikely to have even ever heard of YouView. Even if they have they may no longer want or need it. Still, public trials, no matter how small they are, is a good starting point.

Canvas Becomes YouView

Project Kangaroo became Project Canvas became YouView. In the meantime, while the BBC and others were spending too long working out every little detail of a joint streaming venture, smart TVs became common, set-top boxes grew in number and popularity, and games consoles began offering streaming services.

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The BBC could soon be selling shows – both old and new – to the British public who originally funded the making of this content in the first place. A good idea, but not a wholly moral one.

BBC & The iPlayer

The BBC is responsible for some of the best television content on the planet. Shows such as Doctor Who and Top Gear have millions of fans around the world. And with the iPlayer it also provides one of the best catch-up TV services on the planet too.

However, there is an opportunity being missed here; to sell content to the public after transmission. According to paidContent, the BBC is now developing plans to rectify that situation.

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The BBC has announced plans to release its global iPlayer app on the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is currently an iPad exclusive. More countries will also be added to the list of territories where the global iPlayer app is available.

Global iPlayer App

Pretty much as soon as the BBC rolled out the iPlayer in the U.K. international viewers declared they wanted in, even if it meant paying to watch the shows on offer. The BBC is known and respected around the world, and some of its biggest shows are worldwide hits.

It took a long time to happen, but in July 2011 the global iPlayer app was released in 11 European countries including Germany, Italy, and Spain. The one caveat (other than the price of subscribing) being the need to own an Apple iPad, the only platform the global iPlayer app was available on.

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Life In A Day was a spectacularly well-made look at how different people around the world lived their lives on one day in 2010. But could the same work on a country-specific basis? The BBC intends to find out with Britain In A Day.

Britain In A Day

You will hopefully have watched Life In A Day by now. I’ve watched it twice, once on YouTube and once on the BBC. After it aired on the BBC a trailer for a British-only version was shown. Titled, rather predictably, Britain In A Day.

The BBC is inviting everybody in the U.K. to video themselves on (Saturday) November 12 and upload the results to YouTube. Director Morgan Matthews will then sift through the footage before cutting it into a feature-length documentary film that will be shown on BBC2 prior to the 2012 Olympic Games.

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As an avid user and fan of the BBC iPlayer, and someone who accesses it regularly through a PS3, I’m pleased to see iPlayer for TV getting a much-needed and long-awaited upgrade. This is no paper thin makeover, instead this is a feature-packed update.

BBC iPlayer

The BBC introduced the iPlayer, its magnificent television-on-demand catch-up service, more than three years ago now, and it has grown both in stature and usability massively in that time. Thanks to regular updates it is now intuitive and easy-to-use, yet offers a lot of features.

As well as being available on computers, the iPlayer can be accessed on a wide range of devices, including connected-TV platforms and mobile devices such as the iPad. The latter now has an international version, and the former has been given a plentiful upgrade.

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