iPad 2, iPlayer too

The first session today at the Financial Times Digital Media & Broadcasting conference in London was interesting given that today is Official iPad 2 Hype Day - there were very strong indications that the BBC will launch iPlayer on the iPad outside the UK this year, for a fee of several dollars a month. BBC Director General Mark Thompson said that the BBC was "exploring internationally what the right pricing and models are..." and said that it would be less than ten dollars per month to subscribe to it. He also said that content played over the iPlayer would be unchanged. Timing was unclear when he was pressed.

Speaking to people at the conference, opinions about the strategic rationality were mixed, and one pointed out they seem to have finally jumped out of bed with Microsoft, but just to jump in with Apple - a few pointed out that this was a pretty robust riposte to Her Majesty's Government for cutting licence funding. Having worked on the byzantine world of BBC content rights in the past, I think that will still need some settling.

One questioner asked about the BBC and YouTube, I interpreted Mr Thompson's reply as implying that YouTube is good for short-form media and trailers, but did not have the heavy lifting for long form content.

He also called for the UK mobile industry to collaborate to find a Mobile TV approach that worked and a believable roadmap. We aren't holding our breath on that one....