Streaming BBC video comes to the Wii

48 Comments by Kyle Orland Apr 9th 2008 10:30AM
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii

Now that the Wii has brought TV web browsing to millions of homes, web services are tripping all over themselves to make sure they're fully compatible with the Wii's Opera browser. The latest organization to trip is the BBC, which announced today that its iPlayer catch-up service will allow UK Wii owners to stream programs through the system directly onto their TVs.

The program, which goes into beta today, is simply a Wii-optimized version of the BBC's existing iPlayer catch-up service, which last month served 17.2 million episodes of programs such as Torchwood, Doctor Who and Top Gear, among dozens of others. The service will only be available to UK citizens and does require the 500 Wii Point purchase of the Internet channel, but a BBC info. page says the organization is hoping "to be able to get iPlayer on Wii without this purchase being needed."

[Thanks to everybody who sent this in]

Tags: BBC, british, doctor-who, internet, streaming, top-gear, torchwood, UK, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, video, web

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force): Apr 9th 2008; 10:36AM

Why only in the UK? I wouldn't mind some BBC in the US as well... who could say no to Doctor Who?

Maverick Saturn: Apr 9th 2008; 10:44AM

Cos its a UK comapny :S

Maxwell Ash: Apr 9th 2008; 10:47AM

And we are the ones that pay for it. It was expensive too.

riggs: Apr 9th 2008; 11:19AM

i can.

Nigeria: Cody ChesnuTT Defense Force: Apr 9th 2008; 10:36AM

But, wouldn't the BBC have to produce something worth watching first?

And no, reruns of Fawlty Towers don't count.

Maxwell Ash: Apr 9th 2008; 10:44AM

I bet you live in the US, and only get BBC US or something. Here in the UK the BBC makes all of the best programs, including Doctor Who, Planet Earth, Gavin and Stacey, Little Britain, and Mighty Boosh.

baby sea tuna: Apr 9th 2008; 10:48AM

I think you can get all of those here too...and I'd trade every single one for a Region 1 DVD of Spaced.

Nigeria: Cody ChesnuTT Defense Force: Apr 9th 2008; 10:51AM

No, I'm a Londoner.

Most of the shows you named are terrible. They should really scrap BBC 3, the last three shows you named are evidence of that.

Maverick Saturn: Apr 9th 2008; 10:55AM

Nah, not after I saw Dawn Porter go lesbian, that was hilarious :) I object, keep BBC3, get more Dawn!

KarlW: Apr 9th 2008; 11:03AM

Here are a few:

- Top Gear
- QI
- Have I Got News For You
- Lead Balloon (Jack Dee is like marmite - you either love him or hate him)

brandon_r87 : Brawl : 4897-5857-5091: Apr 9th 2008; 11:06AM

I don't live in the UK, so I don't get the BBC, but I enjoyed The Office and Extras. Just be glad that your shows only last a few series, then try to wrap up the story. In America, we just allow them to go as long as they make money, which means that the characters can't really have too much development or story, or people who miss won't follow. Just look at Arrested Development, one of the best comedies of all time and got hardly any viewers because Americans just want reality TV and broad sitcoms.

Marcus Albers: Apr 9th 2008; 11:21AM

I don't know... how long has Eastenders been on?

Face it, the only thing good on BBC3 is Doctor Who Confidential. But don't judge the rest of the Beeb by that channel. I love Doctor Who, Torchwood, Robin Hood, Top Gear.

NATO_Duke: Apr 9th 2008; 11:22AM

Planet Earth was awesome damn it!

colin: Apr 9th 2008; 7:40PM

the office and hustle are great. i love hustle.

Mills and Boom: Apr 9th 2008; 8:38PM

You spaz Baby sea tuna!

Spaced was Channel 4. Not BBC.

"Oh I can't wait for the next Zelda game on the PS3"...

Maverick Saturn: Apr 9th 2008; 10:44AM

BBC iPlayer does it all :)

Ethan: Apr 9th 2008; 10:53AM

A free Wiiware title would do it nicely.

ViagraFiend: Apr 9th 2008; 10:58AM

yay?

motang: Apr 9th 2008; 11:06AM

Too bad it's only in the UK, I wouldn't mind watching some Top Gear here in the states on my Wii.

KarlW: Apr 9th 2008; 11:34AM

I wish some of the US broadcasters would do the same thing and open their sites up. Thank God you can torrent Lost and Heroes.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Apr 9th 2008; 11:08AM

Do we really need a news story every time we discover a new flash video site that works on the wii internet channel?

mr nimblewick: Apr 9th 2008; 11:23AM

Yes. And hopefully more follow suit. I'm looking at you, NBC.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Apr 9th 2008; 11:40AM

Its not a new feature of the BBC site. They've always (for the basis of this argument) had streaming video of back episodes. NBC adding streaming would be news. All this is saying is "Hey, this streaming website works in the wii web browser."

Zak Canard: Apr 9th 2008; 11:47AM

It's news because up until today it didn't work, iPlayer required at least Flash 8. The Wii (and while I'm at it the PSP and PS3) thanks mostly to Adobe's reluctance to update their Flash SDK is stuck for the forseeable future at Flash 7.

scaught: Apr 9th 2008; 11:08AM

I want to see Mighty Boosh here in the US. I am sick of just watching random clips of it on YouTube.

"I'm OLD GREGG!!"

Ethan: Apr 10th 2008; 5:22AM

Just go to a club where people wee on each other. You'll get the same effect.

Matt: Apr 9th 2008; 11:31AM

Have they made it so you can use the listen again too? Its all about the moving pictures these days.

Zak Canard: Apr 9th 2008; 11:44AM

The Listen Again (or iPlayer Radio as they want us to call it) isn't Wii compatible, it's still RealPlayer and/or Windows Media streams.

Zak Canard: Apr 9th 2008; 11:42AM

Seems to work ok. A bit jumpy but I suspect that may be due to the iPlayer streams getting hammered with this being "big news".

Chilly Willy: Apr 9th 2008; 11:54AM

Chicago resident myself, but I love British shows. Shaun the Sheep FTW!

James Lockwood: Apr 9th 2008; 12:06PM

I despise the BBC. The licence fee is £135.50 (approx $270). The licence fee is used to fund the BBC's radio, television and internet services. The problem is that I never watch the BBC - I find it to be elitist, self-righteous, liberal BS - the only decent quality content they have put out recently has been Planet Earth.

Those that get salaried by the British Broadcasting Corporation(/Company) recieve massive benefits for little work. ITV (a rival network) is sending approx. 30 people to cover the Beijing Olympic games - the BBC is sending approx. 130. (that's a conservative estimate - type 'bbc sending beijing olympics' into Google and get ready to be annoyed). Why should the money I'm forced to pay if I want to watch TV (any channel) go toward 150 BBC personel's collective holiday? Such a waste.

I want Sky, but I refuse to pay the £135 Licence Fee only to then have to pay my Sky subscription.

I do not own a TV Licence.

Mills and Boom: Apr 9th 2008; 1:38PM

Boo wah wah sob.

I love the BBC with their sat-on-the-fence stance on news. Hell I thought they could take a stab at ISPs over this whole iPlayer issue but they didn't. Brilliant.

And no adverts? Finally. I'm sick of them and hate watching other stations sometimes. "buy our products"... piss off.

James Lockwood: Apr 9th 2008; 4:42PM

When I saw you, Mills and Boom, of all people had replied, I sighed. You are one of the few commenters I remember on this site, and don't take that as a compliment.

I was contemplating not even dignifying
you with response but this reply wasn't up to your usual level of idiocy, that I thought I'd chip in again.

I believe my point is valid. I don't believe I can articulate my argument in any way that won't result in a flippant 'you're an r-tard' remark from you, however, so I will not bother. You cannot turn a true believer.

And adverts - love 'em! When would you get chance to make a brew without them? And when would you get chance to talked to a loved one without them? And if that isn't the point of adverts then - maybe I'm missing the point of them.

I guess you are a) Too young to pay for a TV Licence b) Too old to get over the fact that the BBC is shit c) retarded.

I can do flippant remarks, too.

Mills and Boom: Apr 9th 2008; 8:35PM

Sorry mate, I was only messing around.

Honestly I only play around here. I actually own all consoles, work for one who you'd expect this persona to not get on with. I'm house broken too.
I do agree about adverts! They can be useful, I just don't like watching an engrossing film only to be cut up sporadically for the executives to sell unrelated products to us. I was watching some moving WW2 film several years ago and in the ad break they had some gay text chat service, those bastards. I've moved on and use my Mac as a TV player so I can record and archive "the good shit", skip through adverts and make my own pauses.

Sky is a load of shit. If not for visitors I'd have cancelled our subscription long ago. Technically I'm not even paying for it now. They just haven't cut off service. There's such little redeeming it, the quality of both the shows and the video compression leaves a lot to be desired.

Sorry about this persona though. It's just for kicks but I turn into the cereal me when topics are old and nobody but the original commentor is looking. But for a bit of flippant truth this time; I don't remember your name.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime): Apr 9th 2008; 12:08PM

When lord will the poor 360 owners be able to download bbc america programs. My beloved MI-5, Ramsay, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Top Gear, and news...wah WAAHHH!!!!

Maxwell Ash: Apr 9th 2008; 12:25PM

I'm pretty sure you could get the news already, they podcast it all so just subscribe to that and stream it to the ol' 60

Mills and Boom: Apr 9th 2008; 1:34PM

What the fuck is MI-5?

Mills and Boom: Apr 9th 2008; 12:58PM

Good heavens I love the iPlayer. Can't wait for the iPhone to go 3G so I can watch BBC shows anywhere.

Now for the Wii too? Good move BBC.

I can't stand American TV shows, ITV fails at comedy so I'm pretty reliant on BBC and Channel 4. Five? Don't make me laugh. Because they can't. Or entertain.

netgem21: Apr 9th 2008; 7:37PM

Mi-5 is the american name for Spooks

Benny: Apr 9th 2008; 1:53PM

I love the iPlayer.

Just wish people would stop bitching about the BBC. The license fee might be quite high, but we get some brilliant shows out of it.

Doctor Who, Planet Earth, The Apprentice, Top Gear, Eastenders, Life On Mars, The Office, Extras, The Thick Of It, Fairy Tales, Torchwood, Hotel Babylon, Gavin and Stacey, Question Time, QI, Have I Got News For You, Room 101, Little Britain, and more.

List wars? Hell yeah.

Mills and Boom: Apr 9th 2008; 8:37PM

Spooks, Doctor Who, Casualty (don't laugh), Robin Hood (or at that too), Have I got news for you, Top Gear, See Hear (it's comedy gold). Plus the old stuff like Red Dwarf and co.

I fookin adore BBC.

natureboy46: Apr 9th 2008; 2:10PM

I hate to be anal but I think the story should read that the service will only be available to UK residents, not citizens.

I'm a UK citizen but I doubt I'll be able to watch the service here in NYC.

Gurei: Apr 9th 2008; 2:33PM

Fails.
Big thing of being through the web and the wii is that anyone anywhere could kinda easisly pay wii points for the shows.

Martez: Apr 9th 2008; 2:34PM

Boo. I'd love to see this in the US.

boxmyth: Apr 9th 2008; 4:28PM

TOP GEAR!
Best show evar! (and I'm American, so that's saying a lot)

PojoMofo: Apr 9th 2008; 6:21PM

NO BBC in the US??? Crap

I guess I will have to settle for the 30 year old British comedy on PBS

CNash: Apr 9th 2008; 6:48PM

Wow, the old old BBC Video logo! It's still my favourite of all of them - the 80s spinning globe gave me nightmares (it was more to do with the music than the globe), the 90s one was too corporate and stuffy, and while I like the string accompaniment on the current one, it's a little boring - just a static logo. The old one, as featured here, has a wonderful twiddly synthesiser piece as its backing music.