The BBC has launched its first voice service for smart speakers.
It has begun with the market-leading Amazon Alexa and has plans to introduce services for other smart speakers in the future.
The Alexa Skill gives access to live and on demand content from the BBC’s 10 national, 6 UK nations and 40 local radio stations as well as BBC World Service Radio.
Matthew Postgate, Chief Technology and Product Officer, BBC, said: “Smart speakers are an exciting new way of interacting with audio content. They’re a natural fit for the BBC as millions of people enjoy and rely on our audio programmes every day. Today we’re making sure audiences can find what they love from the BBC on any device they use, through one single and easy-to-use service. But there’s potential to do more and we’re just scratching the surface.”
To use the skill, audiences simply need to ask Alexa for the BBC Radio station or podcast they want. They’ll be taken straight to the live show or the latest episode of podcast, where they’ll also be able to ask for “Previous” episodes in the full back-catalogue.
BBC content can already be accessed through skills for RadioPlayer and TuneIn.
BBC News briefings are available for Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant and BBC Research & Development recently launched an experimental interactive drama, The Inspection Chamber, on Echo and Alexa that will come to other smart speakers in future.
