The Rewatch iPlayer iPhone app was shaping up to be the perfect way to download BBC shows on the iPhone or iPad, with plenty of bells and whistles on board too. But the program’s been scrapped before release. Why? Because the BBC clamped down on it with a Cease and Desist order.
If you’ll recall, we saw an early preview of what the unofficial BBC iPlayer app would have looked like last month, and were smitten with the extra features developer Camiloo promised, including Twitter commentary which automatically pulled in thoughts from other viewers, while simultaneously checking their timestamps to avoid showing you spoilers while watching an on-demand show. But now the Rewatch website simply reads “Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to release rewat.ch.”
Rewatch: BBC iPlayer download app for iPhone and iPad
We spoke to Camiloo’s MD, Mark Newby, who confirmed that the company was “given a Cease and Desist by the BBC.” Although the Rewatch iPlayer iPhone app would have used the same method to pull down BBC iPlayer programmes as several unofficial desktop services, Newbie was told that the BBC deemed it “a hack on the system.”
“It took us by surprise, because we were in communication with someone high up at the BBC…it seems strange that we weren’t allowed to do it for iPhone,” he told us.
By sheer coincidence, BBC digital boss Erik Huggers last week alluded to an official BBC iPlayer iPhone app at Mobile World Congress last week. There’s no word yet on whether the Beeb’s own iPlayer iPhone app will let iPhone and iPad owners download iPlayer content, but we’ll be surprised if the BBC is as quick to build in Twitter commentary as Camiloo had been.
Out TBC | £TBC | Rewatch
