The BBC has expanded its Global iPlayer service for the iPad to Canada, says The Hollywood Reporter. Users can access BBC TV shows on demand, something normally reserved for UK license fee payers, who can tap various forms of iPlayer for free. In Canada iPlayer access costs $9 a month, or $85 a year. Content is based on local demand and rights, but some initial shows include Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Whitechapel, Hustle and MI-5.
Global iPlayer reached western Europe in July, and Australia in September.
The play is still AWOL from the US. The country is expected to get access sometime in the near future, as the BBC wraps up a one-year pilot program. With the hire of former NPR Executive Editor Dick Meyer to lead BBC News America, the us version could have more news in it. Before public radio, Meyer was editorial director of CBSNews.com and was a producer for “The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.”
Beginning in February 2012, Meyer will lead the BBC’s U.S. newscast “BBC World News America” and its US website. In a statement from BBC America, he says the BBC has “real opportunity for growth” in the U.S. as American news organizations struggle.
