BBC iPlayer App To Launch In Eleven Different Countries Today, United States Later This Year [Those Wanting BBC Content On Their iPads Will Have A Big New Option In The BBC iPlayer]

Posted on TFTS by Steve Anderson on Thursday, 28. July 2011 under: Computers & Computing, Net Resources, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beginning to enjoy BBC content. Between the new Doctor Who, which is probably some of the better science fiction I’ve seen, to Top Gear, which is easily the most hilarious show I’ve ever seen about cars (I still laugh thinking about the time they converted a van into a hot air balloon), there’s a lot to like. And now, partially thanks to Apple itself, 11 European countries now have access to the BBC iPlayer, with the United States set to join them later this year.

We haven’t heard much out of the BBC iPlayer since last March, so this is quite a happy update for those who’ve been waiting since then for new word. The iPlayer has launched, according to reports, in 11 different European countries, including Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain. Meanwhile, the United States (which actually has its own BBC outlet called BBC America) will reportedly be getting their own access later this year.

For those needing a bit of refresher, the BBC iPlayer is, essentially, the British equivalent of Crackle. They take a large quantity of their programs, and also a whole lot of radio programming as well, and offer it up for streaming with a subscription fee, which has now been officially set at just eight dollars a month.

The BBC worked closely with Apple on the development of the iPlayer, and the development went so far as to override some Apple functions that were getting in the way of the iPlayer’s use, for instance, hibernation.

They’re offering up fully 1500 hours of content right now, which is a bit soft by itself, but they plan to add fully 100 hours a week, every week, which means that by the time this actually makes it to the United States, this is going to be pretty impressive in its own right. And considering the issues Netflix has been having of late, this may be a bigger help to the iPlayer than anyone wanted to consider.

So what do you guys think? Eight bucks a month to get in on some surprisingly good content sound like a good deal? Or do you have other favorites you’d sooner stick to? Either way, we love hearing from you, so hit the comments section and tell us what you think!