BBC director-general Mark Thompson announced on Friday (August 27th) his intention to launch an international commercial version of the iPlayer within a year.

The Adobe AIR based, multi-platform, iPlayer serves (geo-blocked) BBC TV and radio content from the previous seven days and has dramatically popularised UK time-shifting. According to figures released on the BBC’s website last month, iPlayer was taking 114 million programme requests in July (with the FIFA World Cup and motoring show Top Gear proving the most popular).

One of the hurdles Thompson, and the BBC, will have to overcome, in offering a truly global VOD service, is the current licencing agreement they have in place with independent producers.

The Independent TV producers’ trade group Pact has told paidContent:UK that Thompson’s idea has not been agreed with industry, and it will oppose the plan. John McVay, CEO of Pact went on to say that: “The terms of trade DO NOT allow for the iPlayer to be accessed outside of the UK as this cuts across the commercial rights of independent producers” Thompson responded by saying that: “It’s the right time to take a fresh look at whether the current terms are fit for purpose…we may need more flexibility from the producers.”

By laying down a 12-month deadline, Thompson has effectively set a clock for his team (and independent producers) to embrace what he said is a new global opportunity for British TV makers: “British ideas are no longer strangers in LA and the world’s other media capitals.” For now, though, the opportunity to profit from shows popular in the U.S., like Doctor Who and Top Gear, is going begging online.

An intriguing technical challenge faced by the BBC in offering a global iPlayer service will be the implementation of a system by which non-UK IP addresses can identify themselves as UK license fee payers for ‘catch-up’ TV.

UK culture minister Jeremy Hunt said that due to the increasingly popular uptake of television being watched via catch-up services, the UK government needed to ‘rethink’ the licence fee model(s) associated with ‘catch-up’ TV. These services currently don’t not require the payment of the licence fee, but he admitted that his administration will need to find a way to stop people consuming material paid for by the licence fee for free. He ruled out introducing a licence fee for PCs.

This sentiment is shared by BBC’s governing body the BBC Trust who expressed concern last year about the increasing number of viewers watching catch-up services and said that rules on licences should be clearer.

Watch this space…