The BBC and BT have announced more details about the plans to bring the BBC’s extreamly popular VOD service iPlayer to the telecomms DTT IPTV service BT Vision.

BT Vision is to introduce the BBC iPlayer service over the next few months as a software update, with a phased release starting in early December, and all BT Vision customers will be able to access the service by April 2011.  Once complete, the service can be accessed by selecting BBC iPlayer from BT Vision’s programme menu.

It is likely to offer the full blown BBC iPlayer package, offering practically all of the TV and radio programmes available online through a simple and intuitive BBC iPlayer branded application, eventually replacing the existing BBC content on BT Vision’s current 50 hour TV Replay package, which offers quite a small selection of BBC TV programmes.

“October was a record month for BBC iPlayer with a total of 139 million programme requests on computers, TVs and mobiles,” said Daniel Danker, BBC General Manager for Programmes and On Demand.

“Over 20mn of those requests were delivered to TVs. Licence fee payers love the option of enjoying BBC iPlayer’s high-quality experience and vast choice of programmes on the living room TV, and we’re delighted to be able to bring the service to BT Vision.”

Describing the addition of iPlayer to BT Vision as a major advance, the BBC revealed that nearly a third of all TV programmes viewed on BBC iPlayer are watched using TV-connected devices such as games consoles, set top boxes, disc players and internet connected TVs.

BT Vision’s set top boxes use the Microsoft Mediaroom middleware platform, for which Microsoft added a technology last year called Presentation Framework (MSPF), which lets IPTV network operators add extra services delivered over the Web.  The BBC subsequently partnered with Pushbutton to build the BBC iPlayer app on BT Vision using this technology.

TV programmes will be delivered in WMV format at a total data rate of 1300 Kbps, while radio is delivered in WMA format at 128 Kbps, according to Gideon Summerfield, Product Manager for TV iPlayer at the BBC.  BT adds that its BT Vision customers should be able to watch these feeds without interruption, whatever their broadband connection speed.

BT added 24,000 subscribers to its BT Vision service during the third quarter of this year, bringing the total to 520,000 customers.

BT seem to have quite ambitious plans for their TV product in 2011, having just signed a contract with Cisco for the supply of a content delivery system, and also being a founding member of the YouView TV project.

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