All the BBC’s regional output should be available on the iPlayer in the next few weeks, according to Marina Kalkanis, head of core services, BBC.
In a wide-ranging presentation about the broadcaster’s innovative activities in online video publishing (Video Factory), she also revealed that the BBC is looking at opening up its archive, though access would probably be paid for rather than free to viewers.
She also said that there are plans to launch iPlayer outside the UK, though it would not be a free service (The BBC has previously announced the closure of the Global iPlayer).
According to Kalkanis, iPlayer now averages 8 million plays a day, compared to 5 million in August 2012.
It is available on over 1,000 types of devices and offers over 3,000 hours of unique content each week.
The Video Factory came out of the need for the BBC to replace ageing infrastructure used to deliver iPlayer services.
Among the problems being encountered were a fixed limit to capacity; the use of different transcodes; unavailability of content on all devices; no live HD and limited catch-up HD; and slowness to get programmes onto iPlayer.
Video Factory addressed them by moving live processing into the cloud, thereby allowing for major improvements in the iPlayer service.
