LONDON — Subscription access to the BBC’s international version of its phenomenally successful TV catch-up platform iPlayer could be charged at less than $10 a month via an iPad app, BBC director general Mark Thompson said Wednesday.
The BBC iPlayer has been one of the pubcaster’s biggest successes in recent years, allowing U.K. residents free access to recent BBC programming online and via some digital platforms. Almost 162 million programs were downloaded in January alone, averaging six per household.
Speaking at the Financial Times Digital Media & Broadcasting Conference, Thompson said that a global version of the platform would launch this year and would give the pubcaster an international return on access to its programming.
“We’re exploring internationally what the right pricing and models are…the most important thing is that the consumer pricing is right,” he said, adding that the BBC would look to the studio model to maximize its intellectual property assets by “looking at a series of windows…to optimize value across that lifecycle.”
