Concern over iPlayer 'bottleneck'

9 April 2008 12:00am

A row over iPlayer costs has erupted between the BBC and internet service providers as the corporation revealed that use of its "on demand" video service had risen by 25% a month.

BBC research released found that BBC iPlayer enjoyed "significant growth" in the first three months since its Christmas Day marketing launch.

The total number of requests for downloads and streams of BBC programmes in March hit 17.2 million, rising from 14 million in February and 11.2 million in January.

But internet service providers (ISPs) raised concerns about whether the internet could cope with the popularity of the video service putting strains on the network.

It has been suggested the BBC should help foot the bill for internet upgrades.

Simon Gunter of ISP Tiscali told the BBC's Today Programme: "The BBC would like us to pass all those costs on to the end user ie our customers, the consumers of that product. And our view is that 'Should we pass all those costs on to the end user or should we seek to somehow share those costs with the content originators?'"

More than 42 million programmes were accessed on demand since the Christmas marketing launch, the BBC said.

Average weekly users of BBC iPlayer reached 1.1 million in March, up from January's average of 750,000 users. The average daily number of requests to download or stream programmes via BBC iPlayer easily broke through the half a million barrier in that month.

The first episode of The Apprentice was the most streamed BBC programme on BBC iPlayer in its first three months, while Louis Theroux: Behind Bars, in which the documentary maker investigated America's penal system, was the second most streamed programme.

Ashley Highfield, director of future media and technology at the BBC, said of helping internet companies out: "I don't think that's what the BBC is funded to do. I really think that the BBC should be there to create great content and to get it into the network and that the broadband service providers should get it to people's homes to deal with a simple billing structure so that they are the ones that charge for internet service provision to their customers and that the BBC shouldn't get involved in that end of it."

© The Press Association