The BBC have announced a brand new feature for their online iPlayer catchup TV service, as they plan to rival services such as DVR’s and set-top boxes. The new feature is simply titled ‘Series Record’, and was added to their desktop ‘iPlayer app’ yesterday.

With this addition to its service, which already allows its users to catch up on a majority of the recent programming made by the BBC, viewers will no longer need to worry about logging on to the iPlayer website within a week of an episode airing as is the current situation.

Instead, the new feature allows users the option of selecting ‘record series’ on compatible shows, leaving the system to automatically download them with a month’s limit before deletion (and seven days from first viewing), giving busy people even more of a window of opportunity to watch their most desired content.

The move could be seen as a good matchup to current satellite and digital TV services (such as SkyHD, and Freeview+, amongst others) in the UK, that have long been giving viewers the chance to record shows in series form, so could the BBC just have opened up a similar opportunity in the online world?

One thing is for certain, though, like the way digital recorders are decreasing the number of live viewers to a show, iPlayer’s new feature could bring down BBC’s website ‘hit’ numbers as the shows are downloaded automatically for them.

As long as the viewer numbers are up, high, though, the UK’s public broadcaster will feel that they have done their job, with new record highs currently being set for iPlayer downloads month on month.

Video requests for popular series such as Doctor Who are seen as responsible for this surge made within a 30 day window. With access to the service also available through connected devices such as IPTV’s and game consoles, the popularity of the iPlayer is at an all-time high. Will their new approach find them even more fans?

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