As the BBC gets set to unveil its much-anticipated iPad app for the iPlayer, Ireland’s state broadcaster RTE has confirmed there are no immediate plans to launch an iPad app version of its hit RTE Player, though plans are in the pipeline.
It emerged this week that the BBC’s iPlayer app will be released this week for the iPad, opening up a universe of content consumption on tablet computers. The news came out when a BBC executive tweeted: “”iPlayer App for iPad is being released this Thursday – 10th Feb. 3G connection is browse only. Browse+Playback requires Wi-Fi.”
RTE Player has been an enormous success since it launched with more than 200 hours of programming and provides seven days of catch-up TV programming. In December, it emerged the RTE Player would become available on the PlayStation 3 console, just days after the BBC’s catch-up TV iPlayer was also launched on the PS3.
Like the BBC, RTE has come under intense fire from newspapers for taking a pioneering role in embracing the web’s potential for content delivery.
There have been more than 200,000 individual downloads of RTE’s News Now app, which was launched a little more than a year ago.
When will we see an iPad version of RTE Player?
When asked if RTE is planning an iPad version of its popular RTE Player, a spokesperson confirmed to Siliconrepublic.com that such a product is on the road map but there aren’t any imminent plans for a launch.
The spokesperson said part of the delay relates to resolving copyright issues.
“It is certainly on the road map and we’d definitely like for it to happen but there is no set timeline for it. It is part of our future planning,” she said.
