Yet another BBC iPlayer launch

Published on 13 September 2010 in BBC, Work, BBC, BBC iPlayer, television, video on demand

I was off work last week with a disturbingly early-in-the-season bout of flu but whilst I was sitting on the sofa watching Star Trek re-runs on Channel One and CBS Action my team quietly launched a new version of BBC iPlayer.

No. Not that one. Not the one with all that Facebook integration and ability to Tweet, Tweet Tweet your recommendations. The one that hogs all the attention and the limelight. Not that I’m bitter or anything. Oh no…

Instead it was the arrival of our MHEG version of BBC iPlayer on Sony’s 2010 range of Bravia TVs.

Now this doesn’t have Facebook integration and you can’t Tweet anything from it. But you can watch telly on it and it’s the first time our MHEG version has been seen outside of Freesat and its arrival is part of a cunning plan to have a standard version of BBC iPlayer we can use on suitable Freesat and Freeview devices.

Both Freeview HD and Freesat HD share similar internal specifications although with some slight technical differences which means we couldn’t just plonk the Freesat version on and run away, however the porting work we’ve done will enable us to quickly get it up and running on other Freeview HD devices as they become available.

Well that’s the plan anyway…

Anyway if you’ve got a 2010 model of the Sony Bravia you need to connect it to the internet and press the Internet Video button and lo, BBC iPlayer should appear. Enjoy!

Note: some of the above should be read with a wry smile and a knowing look imagined to be on my face. But not the bit about enjoying it. That’s serious. Very serious indeed.