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BBC's archive will be Mac compatible
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Mac Elite
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Manchester, UK
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Earlier this year the BBC intimated that it's back-catalogue would not be viewable from a Mac. However, this announcement suggests that they have changed their approach. Many Mac users voiced their opinions when the service was first mooted, and it may be that this was significant.
The key bit of the announcement is:
The BBC's proposed iPlayer service, offering catch-up TV via the web and cable TV, would be re-engineered to work with Apple Macs and would eventually roll out to digital terrestrial TV (DTT) and set-top boxes.
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
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I'm guessing they figured out that Apple doesn't charge anything for licensing QuickTime, so actually providing a Mac compatible player would be free... unlilke Windows Media and Real Software.*
* I still don't understand that. You can stream QuickTime content for free, or you can pay Microsoft and Real Software money to stream content using their formats. The BBC chose to pay both Microsoft and Real, then actually avoid the free option.
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"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: England | San Francisco
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awesome. 
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we don't have time to stop for gas
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: USA at the moment
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Originally Posted by olePigeon 
I'm guessing they figured out that Apple doesn't charge anything for licensing QuickTime, so actually providing a Mac compatible player would be free... unlilke Windows Media and Real Software.*
* I still don't understand that. You can stream QuickTime content for free, or you can pay Microsoft and Real Software money to stream content using their formats. The BBC chose to pay both Microsoft and Real, then actually avoid the free option.
It's not quite that simple with the iPlayer - they're building in DRM so that you can't keep the programmes for more than a week after downloading them, something you can't do with Quicktime.
You're right about them using Real and WMV for streaming on their website, but I'm glad they do pay the money, because my G3 Mac can't play streaming video using Quicktime (which is made by Apple) but it can play streaming Real video, full screen!
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Senior User
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: South Carolina
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What ticks me off is not that the BBC uses Real Player, because they're encoding is very good, but that they still use very low res video. It has remained unchanged for three years now. I used to catch up on The Apprentice. Very good encoding, never skipped or paused, but damn them for the low res. Top Gear's site is excellent too, but then again it's low res Real. I might as well watch all the content on YouTube if it is going to look like that.
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Web dev, Poe, faux-naïf, keyboard warrior, often found imitating online contrarians . My stuff : DELL XPS, iPhone 6
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