BBC and BT partner to bring BBC iPlayer to BT Vision

The BBC and BT announced plans to bring BBC iPlayer, the public service broadcaster’s popular video-on-demand service, to BT Vision.

BT Vision will introduce BBC iPlayer over the next five months, in a phased release starting in early December. All BT Vision customers will be able to access the service by April 2011. Once complete, the service can be accessed by selecting BBC iPlayer from BT Vision’s programme menu.

This will be the full BBC iPlayer package, offering almost all of the TV and radio programmes available online through a simple and intuitive BBC iPlayer-branded application, eventually replacing the BBC content on BT Vision’s existing 50-hour “TV Replay” package, which offers a small selection of BBC TV programmes.

Daniel Danker, BBC General Manager for Programmes and On Demand, said: “October was a record month for BBC iPlayer with a total of 139 million programme requests on computers, TVs and mobiles. Over 20 million of those requests were delivered to TVs. Licence-fee payers love the option of enjoying BBC iPlayer's high-quality experience and vast choice of programmes on the living-room TV, and we're delighted to be able to bring the service to BT Vision."

Marc Watson, chief executive of television and online services, BT Retail, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with the BBC to bring the BBC iPlayer service to BT Vision customers. The launch of BBC iPlayer on BT Vision adds to the vast range of quality entertainment already available to our customers.”