wii
BBC iPlayer Now Wii Ready
Posted by Mike Fahey at 1:20 AM on April 10, 2008
Doctor Who is coming to the Wii...sort of! The BBC has announced that their iPlayer replay service will now be functional on the Nintendo Wii. The service, made available last month on the iPod Touch and iPhone, presents time-limited replays of BBC shows, such as Doctor Who, Torchwod, and whatever else they have worth watching. Wii owners in the UK will be able to browse to the page and grab their favourite shows.
"This exciting alliance with the BBC is yet another way in which Nintendo is looking to broaden the market for its products by offering compelling and relevant content to families," added David Yarnton, general manager of Nintendo UK.Right now the iPlayer requires the Wii Internet Channel to function, but the BBC is looking into making it a standalone free feature in the future.
Wii gets BBC iPlayer [GamesIndustry.biz]

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Bunta
Posted 1:17 AM 10/4/08
Am I the only one who is sick of seeing "i" in front of everything? Apple I understand for putting it in front of all their products, but they pretty much started it. I wish every other company would just stop putting "i's" in front of EVERYTHING like the "i" actually stands for something.
Bunta
djkibblesnbits
Posted 1:16 AM 10/4/08
Personally, I'm upset that Beeb went and made a Wii version of their iPlayer, but at the same time, has yet to release a Mac-compatible version. I mean, I think it's cool they even considered making it available on the Wii, but, it's not that farfetched to say that UK Mac users are more likely to be checking out iPlayer programs in the first place, especially since there are many more of them.
djkibblesnbits
Chadders
Posted 1:10 AM 10/4/08
@Sabastian_Chadwick_McGirt:
Guess you'll have to get a British Wii imported! ;)
(This is perhaps the only time anyone will say that.)
Chadders
nastysquared
Posted 1:10 AM 10/4/08
Mmm, now if ABC and NBC get something similar on the Wii...
Although I would gladly take a Pandora for the Wii instead of the two services I just mentioned.
nastysquared
MoarFightos
Posted 1:05 AM 10/4/08
Too bad only douchebags use ipods.
MoarFightos
Sabastian_Chadwick_McGirt
Posted 12:58 AM 10/4/08
@Kinburn:
...any chance this can work here in the states?
Sabastian_Chadwick_McGirt
nottsville
Posted 12:57 AM 10/4/08
Does this mean you'll have to buy another TV licence? hehe....
nottsville
Rebochan
Posted 12:57 AM 10/4/08
I like how only *one* of those shows in the image is not Doctor Who or a spin-off.
Rebochan
xanavi
Posted 12:49 AM 10/4/08
@Kinburn: You've said the magical two words for me, maybe we could use a proxy or something, hmm?
xanavi
Kinburn
Posted 12:47 AM 10/4/08
Top Gear's available too, I must figure out a way to change my IP address...
Kinburn
furiku
Posted 12:39 AM 10/4/08
@Chadders:
Good point, the Wii's connection is hardly the best at times. I will be checking this tonight though.
I think the Wii could be a bit of a media station, winamp has it's orb thingy too. The future may be bright yet!
furiku
PenguinJim
Posted 12:38 AM 10/4/08
Ooh, last week Father was asking for the most straightforward way to transfer iPlayer from the PC in his study to the TV in his front room. Now he can just use the Wii!
Let's just hope Doctor Who improves after that dire, dire, dire episode on Saturday.
PenguinJim
Chadders
Posted 12:35 AM 10/4/08
This is great - my brother has been asking me to ditch cable in favour of our own satellite dish, but was reluctant because of the loss of on-demand.
Will have to check the quality of transmission when I get home!
Chadders
NecronomiconUK
Posted 12:35 AM 10/4/08
Brilliant. I was just thinking earlier how great it would be if BBC released an iPlayer app for the PS3 that allowed you to stream shows, download them and punt them over to the psp. Wouldn't be necessary if they pulled their finger out and released PlayTV though..... wow my 2nd bitch about that today
NecronomiconUK
furiku
Posted 12:32 AM 10/4/08
Was just reading about this on BBCs website. This is great news. I hope it also means they will be updating all of their content. videoGaiden sadly doesn't work as it's flash 8 or 9.
furiku
jayntampa
Posted 12:30 AM 10/4/08
That's pretty cool ... hopefully, they will get something similar going here. As a side note, I have a weakness for Doctor Who and Torchwood ... love 'em!
jayntampa
theTOMSTA666
Posted 12:29 AM 10/4/08
cool
theTOMSTA666
OtakuboyT
Posted 1:44 AM 10/4/08
....still UK only. ...crap
OtakuboyT
phicaluk
Posted 1:42 AM 10/4/08
It's stuff like this that actually makes me feel patriotic. Good old beeb *wipes tear from eye*
phicaluk
BigWeather
Posted 1:38 AM 10/4/08
Bah, don't taunt me with "Ashes to Ashes"! I so hope the US gets that show. "Life On Mars" was brilliant!
As for Dr. Who, Sci-Fi is starting the new season on April 18th with last year's Christmas special (not technically part of season 4) "Voyage of the Damned" and then the following week starting in on the season proper with, I think, "Partners in Crime".
It's so awesome that we're getting them only a few weeks behind the BBC. Now just give us "Ashes to Ashes"!!!
BigWeather
11redder
Posted 1:37 AM 10/4/08
Goddamit! Hundreds of years under the yoke of British imperial rule and now no access to the iplayer all because of a stupid uprising a mere 92 years ago. I vote for a bbc led reclaimation of Ireland as part of the British dominion.
11redder
playclever
Posted 1:36 AM 10/4/08
Ooh, cool, I'd definitely use this. Especially if the Wii version includes the Radio "listen again" content, that's something I've been wanting to work with Wii for a good long time.
playclever
phicaluk
Posted 1:30 AM 10/4/08
@nottsville:
Only if you're planning on buying another house to watch your Wii iPlayer in.
phicaluk
DrXym
Posted 1:26 AM 10/4/08
It shouldn't need a special version. The Wii has a browser, and the content should play properly within that.
DrXym
daddygerplex
Posted 1:22 AM 10/4/08
I have a US Wii imported to the UK. Its working perfectly. It must be going off my IP address.
daddygerplex
ionerox
Posted 2:10 AM 10/4/08
@djkibblesnbits: I'm with you. It makes no sense that iPods, iPhones and even the Wii can use it... but not a Mac.
ionerox
in5ane
Posted 1:51 AM 10/4/08
@playclever: 'Listen again' still uses the awful Real Player, so it'll be a cold day in hell before it works on the Wii. It would make sense to serve the radio stuff with Flash as well, but they can't abandon all the Real stuff they wasted millions of pounds on :)
in5ane
Onizuka-GTO
Posted 1:51 AM 10/4/08
@OtakuboyT: dammn right it should be.
when you have to pay a bloody LICENCE FEE to even WATCH TV, then your entitled to beebs stuff. until then,
NahNahNah!
:3
Onizuka-GTO
Zak Canard
Posted 1:49 AM 10/4/08
@DrXym: Ah but the iPlayer site required the latest version of Flash, it now works with the crippled Flash 7 used in the Wii's Opera browser. Until Adobe pull their oar out and update the Flash SDK, any Wii, PS3 and PSP owners have got to wait for downgrades like this to watch such content.
It seems to work quite well, if a bit jumpy from all the extra traffic it is currently getting. Seems to be lacking the Full Screen mode of the PC/Mac Flash version but that can either be added back in later or ignored completely with the Wii browser's zoom mode.
Zak Canard
DaiMacculate
Posted 2:46 AM 10/4/08
@Bunta: It could be worse, we could still be just adding the word "web" to the front of everything ;)
Is this service ever coming across the Pond? I'd even be willing to pay, if the content were compelling enough.
DaiMacculate
Thinker
Posted 3:18 AM 10/4/08
Fantastic, now I can watch TV on... on my TV.
Hmm.
Actually, this is a brilliant thing for we UK-dwellers, and could, hopefully, lead the way to finally ending the ridiculous problem posed by having TV programmes show at pre-set times, in an increasingly 24-hour society. The past year, I've watched more TV programmes through the iPlayer and 4oD than I've watched on TV.
Thinker
kossmikman
Posted 3:04 AM 10/4/08
@Bunta:
"i" does mean something, it's for "i"nternet... or at least it used to.
Now that i come to think of it, why is there an "i" in iPod? I've never been able to browse the interwebs on that thing.
Oh well, at least strawberry icecream is still good.
kossmikman
v00deux
Posted 3:38 AM 10/4/08
great, now when can we get hulu to work on the wii?
v00deux
Bob6k
Posted 4:29 AM 10/4/08
"replays of BBC shows, such as Doctor Who, Torchwod, and whatever else they have worth watching" Nope, that's pretty much it
Bob6k
shimage
Posted 4:10 AM 10/4/08
Great, I guess. After the huge fuss they made over not wanting to support Linux, I'm kind of miffed that they're voluntarily putting it on all these (more-or-less) useless platforms.
shimage
TrustyBadger
Posted 3:58 AM 10/4/08
@Rebochan: 'Ashes to Ashes' is a spin-off of another show called 'Life On Mars' ;)
TrustyBadger
Angryrider
Posted 5:22 AM 10/4/08
Yes! Hopefully Eastenders will be included. And what about the Sarah Jane Adventures?
Angryrider
Jest
Posted 5:46 AM 10/4/08
If they give me Fools & Horses, I'll be sooo happy.
Jest
boxmyth
Posted 6:17 AM 10/4/08
@Kinburn:
Top Gear... Mmmm mmmm good.
I hope they have a lot of past episodes on there. I only discovered the show recently, but it's quickly settled in as my favorite show of all time.
Everybody unfamiliar should check out a segment of Top Gear (aka The Best Show Ever):
+ Watch video
boxmyth
MrLister
Posted 7:19 AM 10/4/08
Fantastic! I think they said they intend to offer up the BBC's archives as well as recent stuff.
MrLister
playclever
Posted 7:24 AM 10/4/08
Hmm... I was expecting a bit more.
So they don't actually block the site any more, big deal. There's no new interface for Wii and when I tried to watch the latest Top Gear there wasn't even a "full screen" button so I had to watch it in a box.
And it jerked like hell.
And yeah, no radio.
Boo.
playclever
niacin
Posted 1:31 AM 10/4/08
Thats kinda nice, I use the bbc iplayer quite a lot as i never seem to be in/awake/sober when programs are on that i want to watch.
niacin
chdir
Posted 4:00 PM 10/4/08
My girlfriend and I would love to have this working in the US. I understand that we don't pay the license fee, but they could have ads to make up for that outside of the UK.
According to the BBC site they are working on an international version, however, I doubt it will appear anytime soon.
[iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk]
chdir