BBC show Doctor Who
The BBC has confirmed it will propose building a service to allow users to permanently download copies of BBC shows from the broadcaster’s archives.
BBC director general Mark Thompson confirmed this proposal after reports emerged earlier this week suggesting these plans. It will be put before the BBC Trust later in 2012 and will need support from UK producers.
The plan – codenamed Project Barcelona – would allow users to purchase BBC programmes to download for a ‘relatively modest’ price. The archive would be available to UK licence fee payers but Thompson denied it would be a ‘second licence fee by stealth.’
He said the project would give the BBC another source of income to support independent programme creation in the UK.
The BBC already has its iPlayer service, which allows viewers to stream BBC content from their web-connected devices. The service has been very popular and has since been rolled globally across iOS devices.
