Top BBC shows to remain online longer

by Staff, Brand Republic 26-Aug-08, 10:40

LONDON - The BBC is to keep some of its top shows online for longer with the launch of so-called series stacking to the BBC iPlayer from next month.

Series stacking, which begins on September 13, will keep individual episodes online for the duration of the entire series rather than the seven days the BBC currently offers them online.

This means that viewers who miss the first episode will be able to catch up online at their convenience and still watch the full run of shows such as upcoming BBC One dramas 'Merlin', 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles', 'Little Dorrit' and 'Survivors'.

Simon Nelson, controller of multiplatform and portfolio, BBC Vision, said: "Series stacking will really make the unmissable, unmissable. Now, you'll be able to join a series half way through following a friend's recommendation and catch up on all the previous episodes - or watch them all in one go over a weekend.

"Series stacking marks a key development in our strategy to let audiences view our programmes whenever and wherever they want."

Also available will be BBC Two programmes such as 'The History of Climate Change' and 'Bruce Parry's Amazon', and from BBC Three comedy premiere 'Clone'.

When the BBC Trust approved series stacking in April last year, it set a limit of 15% of all video on-demand content. This guideline is to be reviewed after 24 months.

The Trust also required that series stacking applies only to the first-run transmission of the individual episodes of a series on any BBC television public service.

Comments

James Stewart - 26/08/2008

Channel 4 do this already, and also allow you to view almost all shows up to 30 days after being on TV... perhaps the BBC should be offering this too.

Nik Gill - 26/08/2008

I agree... Channel 4 have a back catalogue than extends to the beginning of 2000 and it seems the Beeb are far behind in terms of the shows that they have available to view.