BBC iPlayer

What is the BBC iPlayer?

The BBC iPlayer launched in December 2007. It's the BBC's catch-up TV service, providing free access to recent BBC TV shows. With the catch-line "Make the unmissable, unmissable", the BBC iPlayer offers the following:

• A streaming TV service - watch BBC TV shows from the last 7 days without having to wait for them to be downloaded
• A TV download service - Download recent BBC TV shows to your PC within 7 days of broadcast - you have thirty days to watch them before they are automatically deleted 
• Radio - Listen live to the BBC national stations, and access the BBC Radio "Listen again" service

TV shows are available from the following channels: BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC 4, BBC News, BBC Parliament, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC HD and BBC Alba.

Note that for rights reasons, not all shows and films shown on the BBC are available on the BBC iPlayer, and it's typically only BBC shows, not films or US shows that are screened on BBC.

In December 2009, the BBC iPlayer came to the Freesat platform. It was initially launched as a beta on certain Freesat boxes only.

Freesat boxes and Freesat integrated TVs that we stock have an Ethernet socket on the back that must be connected to an Internet router in order to receive the BBC iPlayer.