BBC iPlayer’s about to get a massive head of digital media technology Anthony Rose says the BBC will increase the iPlayer’s quality over the next year, eventually pushing it to HD quality and adding new social tools to share shows with friends.
Speaking to C21TV, he said: “We’d like to innovate as much in the next year as we did in the last year… Yes, the quality of the programmes will get better. We’ll introduce HD, we’ll introduce higher bitrate streaming and pre-booking, however, the biggest thing coming over the next year will be the fact that you and your friends will be able to share what you’re watching.”
Rose then spelled out his plan for an iPlayer which lets you alert friends to what you’re enjoying, and share shows online. The iPlayer already lets you send a link to friends so they can easily find shows you recommend, but the next version will take that further.
“You’ll be able to notify your friends when you like a programme,” Rose explained. “The consumption of programmes will increase, because throughout the day you’ll get messages from friend saying “loving this” or “watching that” which will take you back to consume more of our programmes. Socialisation through online video I think is a trend for 2009.”
This isn’t the first time the BBC has mentioned on-demand programmes in HD. Last month it announced a partnership with ITV and BT to “promote a common industry approach to deliver on demand TV over broadband.” However, this is the first time we’ve been given a timescale.
HD iPlayer in 2009, and the ability to share with friends? We’re starting to resent the licence fee less and less.
Out 2009 | £free | BBC iPlayer
