BBC iPlayer Goes Live on New Apple TV in the UK

Sunday December 13, 2015 3:44 pm PST by Eric Slivka

The BBC today launched its BBC iPlayer app for the new Apple TV in the United Kingdom, bringing the popular streaming service from the UK's public broadcaster to Apple's set-top box for the first time. iPlayer had been a notable omission on earlier boxes, but with the new Apple TV supporting a full App Store for third-party apps, there has been increasing demand for the BBC to bring its service to the platform.

bbc_iplayer_apple_tv

Well well. Nice Sunday evening surprise. BBC iPlayer now on the new Apple TV. Boo ya! #bbcrocks #finally #appletv pic.twitter.com/7gdfwtrTtl — Paul Dunlop (@pauldunlop) December 13, 2015

Following Apple's unveiling of the new Apple TV at Apple's "Hey Siri" media event, the BBC indicated it had "no plans" at that time to bring iPlayer to the Apple TV, but by the time the new box launched in late October, the broadcaster had changed course and announced iPlayer would be made available "in the coming months."

(Thanks, Brian!)

Related Roundup: Apple TV

Tag: BBC iPlayer

Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Related Forum: Apple TV and Home Theater

Popular Stories

Apple Unveils Two New Products

Monday March 2, 2026 7:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple today introduced two new devices, including the iPhone 17e and an updated iPad Air. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone 16e, but it gains Apple's A19 chip, MagSafe for magnetic wireless charging and magnetic accessories, Apple's second-generation C1X modem for faster 5G, and a doubled 256GB of base storage. In the U.S., the iPhone 17e starts at $599, just like the ...

Apple Announces iPhone 17e With A19 Chip, MagSafe, and More

Monday March 2, 2026 6:07 am PST by Hartley Charlton

Apple today announced the iPhone 17e, featuring the A19 chip, MagSafe connectivity, faster charging, and more. The iPhone 17e contains the A19 chip introduced in iPhone 17. It features a 6-core GPU and a 4-core GPU. Apple pointed out that this makes it up to 2x faster than the iPhone 11. The new 16-core Neural Engine is optimized for large generative models. The iPhone 17e also contains...

• 204 comments

Apple Unveils iPad Air With M4 Chip, Increased RAM, Wi-Fi 7, and More

Monday March 2, 2026 6:05 am PST by Joe Rossignol

Apple today introduced a new iPad Air, with key upgrades including Apple's M4 chip for faster performance, an increased 12GB of RAM, Apple's N1 wireless networking chip with Wi-Fi 7 support, and Apple's custom C1X modem in cellular models. The new iPad Air has the same overall design as the previous-generation model, which is equipped with the M3 chip, 8GB of RAM, and Wi-Fi 6E support....

• 177 comments

Top Rated Comments

John.B

133 months ago

Why should UK license payers supplement those people?

If they sold BBC content outside the UK on monthly subscriptions, "those people" could supplement UK license payers.

Just sayin'...

Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)

6836838

133 months ago

Now if only they got off this region-locking rubbish and offered it outside the UK. As a matter of fact, all content producers should just end their utterly ridiculous need to region control content!

Why should UK license payers supplement those people?

Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)

TheIguana

133 months ago

Now if only they got off this region-locking rubbish and offered it outside the UK. As a matter of fact, all content producers should just end their utterly ridiculous need to region control content!

Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)

tillsbury

133 months ago

The word you're looking for is "subsidize".

The word you're looking for is 'subsidise'.

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

alexgowers

133 months ago

Why should UK license payers supplement those people?

Yeah we legally have to pay for the BBC it should be available on every platform we could possibly want and sold to those outside the UK to reduce our television tax as it were. It makes some of the best programming in the world.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)