Wii to get BBC iPlayer

By Robert Purchese Published 9 April, 2008

Early version available today.

The BBC has said its iPlayer video service will shortly be available on Wii.

This lets you download and stream BBC programmes that you may have missed, like News 24 with Peter Sissons and his voice.

An early version of the iPlayer will be available today, with more polished iterations to be offered as and when they are ready. You can get it from the Internet Channel on Wii for a small one-off fee, although the BBC has said it is looking at ways to make it free in the future.

"This exciting alliance with the BBC is yet another way in which Nintendo is looking to broaden the market for its products by offering compelling and relevant content to families," added David Yarnton, bossman of Nintendo UK.

"BBC iPlayer on Wii will offer Wii owners another reason to turn their console on everyday and adds to the already established non gaming content on Wii that includes news and weather channels and an Internet browser."

More than 17.2 million of you used the iPlayer to download or stream content, apparently, and more than 42 million programmes have been watched since the iPlayer launched last Christmas.

Last month the BBC also rolled the service out on Apple's iPhone and the iPod Touch.

It may not have hair like Peter Sissons, but GamesIndustry.biz is just as good at news.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (45) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • NickDude #1 4 years ago

    ps3 iPlayer with HD Downloads to hdd. yes please. what gives with going on the wii. sure, more people have it but how many will take advantage of it?
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 15:01

  • korky #2 4 years ago

    The ISPs are going to love this! All those Wii owning "casual" gamers gobbling up bandiwdth and (unknowingly) hammering their monthly allowances to watch EastEnders an hour late (probably due to playing their one and only game - Wii Sports).

  • bad09 #3 4 years ago

    Charging for BBC? Is that allowed? Don't we pay for BBC services through the outdated stealth tax that should be abolished if you don't watch BBC..er sorry..TV license.

  • bioreit #4 4 years ago

    :o

    I'll say again:

    :o

  • Eraser #5 4 years ago

    Umm, this isn't a seperate dedicated (Wii software) channel that offers you to connect to the iPlayer service is it? It's just a (probably flash based) website where you can view the videos, using the Opera browser, yes? Why would I pay for that when I've got YouTube and a telly? That's not dedicated Wii software. That's just a webpage that happends to work with the Wii browser. Shame.

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #6 4 years ago

    It's FREE if you got the browser, if you haven't you have to buy the browser.

    The BBC isn't charging anything for it.

    And NickDude - what gives with the Wii is that millions of homes have one. Viewing figures beat HD Download potential every time.

  • Dizzy #7 4 years ago

    >The ISPs are going to love this

    TBH ISPs should STFU about this. They should provide a service that can cope as advertised on many of their glossy add posters. Now that the internet is finally starting to enable media on demand, ISPs are suddenly crying foul like small girls.

  • MightyMouse #8 4 years ago

    @Eraser

    It is a bit different as the iPlayer has both a streaming option and a torrented download option, so this does require separate software.

    Huzzah for the BBC!

  • TheDudesRug #9 4 years ago

    So, does this count as the third good game?

  • HiddenAway #10 4 years ago

    They are quoting the price of the Internet channel.

    "On your Wii, you'll first need to install the Internet Channel, which costs 500 Wii points, or approx. £3.50 (unfortunately there's no alternative to having to buy the Wii Internet Channel for iPlayer web site access at this time - but later we hope to be able to get iPlayer on Wii without this purchase being needed). After you've installed the Internet Channel, browse to http://www.bbc.co.uk/ipl ayer, find your favourite programme, and hit Play. The programme should play immediately."

    BBC Blog

    As far as I know, if you have the Internet Channel, you have nothing to be worried about.
    Edited by 3 at 09/04/08 @ 15:21

  • dsmx #11 4 years ago

    ISP should shut up about the bbc iplayer service it's no worse than people using there connection to torrent. If people are using there bandwidth and the isp don't like it then tough shit they advertised a service if they can't provide it then they should be sued for false advertisement.

  • Stu #12 4 years ago

    Cool!

  • bioreit #13 4 years ago

    Damn straight about ISPs.

    Like someone said on the forum of another site last week:

    ISPs sell their broadband services - with both capped and unlimited (usually meaning just a higher cap) bandwidth - relying on the fact that most consumers won't use anything like what they have paid for. Now, common people have discovered a service worthy of frequent use and the ISPs are panicking as they have oversold their own supply and want a third-party to have to cough up some extra cash because they engaged in poor business practice.

    I wonder if BT Openworld turned round to the ISPs and said "Oi, you lot! You're causinf an awful lot of traffic on our systems that we didn't anticipate and it would cost a bomb to upgrade our infrastructure. So we're billing you for it" their attitude would be the same?

  • tripitaka #14 4 years ago

    Text of the article really should be amended - it does make it sound like they are charging for the service, which is incorrect.

  • Darren #15 4 years ago

    I agree, the article is badly worded.

  • Benno #16 4 years ago

    cool, i can go out tonight and watch apprentice tomorrow on my wii while nuturing a hangover :D

  • moggsy #17 4 years ago

    I wonder if BT Openworld turned round to the ISPs and said "Oi, you lot! You're causinf an awful lot of traffic on our systems that we didn't anticipate and it would cost a bomb to upgrade our infrastructure. So we're billing you for it" their attitude would be the same?

    But that's exactly what BT are doing. The ISP's don't get an 'unlimited' service from BT. They pay for the bandwidth they use - and the iPlayer has single-handedly made this very expensive.

    In only its first month of service, iPlayer pushed up ISP costs by 200 per cent
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 15:46

  • Darren #18 4 years ago

    LOL

    And Microsoft think digital distribution will have begun to replace disc-based media in 12-18 months time... not in this country it won't!!! LOL

  • paulf #19 4 years ago

    i wonder how long it will be before its available on the ps3 browser too, just a matter of the right flash player version i suppose

  • PlugMonkey #20 4 years ago

    Cool!

  • Spielo #21 4 years ago

    Here's a quick video of me trying it out:
    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=VjwHmL5HCdg
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=VjwHmL5HCdg
    [/link]
    And here's a few photos:
    [link url=http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/1746/09042008002sr4 .jpg
    ]http://im g381.imageshack.us/img381/1746/...[/link]
    [link url=http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3227/09042008003qk3 .jpg
    ]http://im g339.imageshack.us/img339/3227/...[/link]
    [link url=http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7608/09042008004yr4.jpg
    ]http://im g99.imageshack.us/img99/7608/09...[/link]
    [link url=http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1033/09042008005ji3 .jpg
    ]http://im g167.imageshack.us/img167/1033/...[/link]

    All taken with my rather rubbish Nokia N73 (my proper camera's battery just died)

    I wouldn't recommend it. There's no fullscreen option, and the video framerate suffers if you try and zoom the page to make the video fill the screen. What's needed is a little WiiWare application to handle it, hopefully that'll come later...

  • Heitzu #22 4 years ago

    What flash player does the PS3 have?

  • moggsy #23 4 years ago

    I wouldn't recommend it. There's no fullscreen option, and the video framerate suffers if you try and zoom the page to make the video fill the screen. What's needed is a little WiiWare application to handle it, hopefully that'll come later...

    Sounds like I'll still be better off streaming it to my 360 then instead - which is a shame.

  • tripitaka #24 4 years ago

    The Top Gear part?

  • Moz #25 4 years ago

    Haven't tried but take it iPlayer doesn't work in the PS3 browser?

  • Heitzu #26 4 years ago

    It doesn't work on PS3, they must be detecting the browser or something.

  • seasidebaz #27 4 years ago

    so.... iplayer is now compatible with opera, is what they're saying...

    and it working on wii is simply a side-effect....

    works for me, anyway ;D

    oh and btw, i'm sure that you can stream iplayer content to the ps3 as well, just need to put it into your media player library on the pc then connect to media server on the ps3, should find your media player 11 then play it seeing as the ps3 can play wmv files as well...

  • Heitzu #28 4 years ago

    Does that really work? I thought the DRM would stop it.

  • seasidebaz #29 4 years ago

    @Heitzu:

    i will check soon, just got some progs on download now. hope it works, i know it does with the 360... come on ps3, i know you can do it ;)

  • paul_haine #30 4 years ago

    /glols at hedbog

  • MARKIV #31 4 years ago

    This gives a bit more information about the Wii BBC iPlayer.

    <a href ="http://www.bbc.c o.uk/iplayer/latest/">http://www.bbc.c o.uk/iplayer/latest/</a>

    By sounds of it hopefully a PSP BBC iPlayer is in the process too..

  • Fuser #32 4 years ago

    Agreed - zooming in does affect frame rate bizarrely, but I was really pleased to see it working as well as it did on the first day of release. It was very watchable and can only get better over the coming months. There's an interesting blog on the BBC website where oone of the designers said that it wasnt available on the PS3 or 360 because both Sony and MS wanted to 'control' the iplayer - not have the branding.
    I guess MS couldnt charge for it either...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #33 4 years ago

    I've tried this too and it is indeed rubbish. Stuttering, horribly macroblocked streaming video with no fullscreen option? Try again, BBC.

    @Moggsy
    Sounds like I'll still be better off streaming it to my 360 then instead

    I couldn't make that work, since the 360 doesn't have the BBC's DRM gubbins on it. Are you using some sort of transcoding?

  • lennon #34 4 years ago

    It works but its not very good.

  • paulf #35 4 years ago

    @ mentalist downloaded wmv's from iplayer work without any transcoding on xbox 360 (well at least they did last time i tried) they still have the drm on them though so will not play after a certain amount of time

    as for the flash player - both ps3 and wii use a version of flash player 7 but as stated before flash also indentifies the platform it is playing on

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #36 4 years ago

    Hmmm... I'll have another go, then.

    Are they playing from Media Center Extender, Windows Media Connect (over the network from a home PC in the Media blade of the xbox dashboard) or copied onto a DVD or USB flash drive?

  • paulf #37 4 years ago

    iirc it was over windows media connect, i tried it a couple of months ago though so the drm fixes they have applied to iplayer may mean it doesnt work now

  • gooners2006 #38 4 years ago

    stupid bloody Iplayer....u can only watch about 6 programmes on your wii!!

  • Quak #39 4 years ago

    "Every day" is 2 words.

    And yes, we already get forced to pay for BBC stuff with the illegal TV licence, so charging for this is laughable.

    Even more laughable though is the flip-side - when this is free, will it be free for people overseas to download and stream BBC content too?

  • paulf #40 4 years ago

    @ quak if you read the article/thread then you'll see that you aren't paying for the iplayer content but the wii browser - as for the 'illegal' licence fee that pays for iplayer and all it's content and the reason that you can watch them for no further charge (within 7 days of broadcast)

  • rhubarbandcustard #41 4 years ago

    It always depresses me when somebody celebrates an act from the BBC. These bastards will send you to jail if you refuse to buy a TV licence. Do not support the BBC. I hate the company.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #42 4 years ago

    What's with the BBC hate? Are the anarchists all het up from the Olympic Torch Relay and need something else to complain about?

    Pay your tenner a month and sit back and enjoy Doctor Who and that programme about Tigers filmed by elephants, you unwashed ingrates.

  • paulf #43 4 years ago

    @ rhubarbandcustard

    and they'll also use that money to create great tv and websites (imo the planet earth series in hd is worth the licence fee alone). tbh I'm not sure that the licence fee should be compulsory but I'm happy to pay it, and for me its better value than a sky contract - but then i watch a lot of bbc programmes, visit the bbc news site daily etc

  • gizmo #44 4 years ago

    Ouch, it's really bad. Stuttering, blocky, windowed. Good that they tried though.

  • Cadence #45 4 years ago

    I agree, good that they tried, but it looks cack.