Ofcom gives provisional green light to iPlayer archive expansion
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Editor
| 20 October 2022
A consultation by UK broadcast regulator Ofcom has found no material issues facing the UK’s TV industry if the BBC goes ahead as planned to no longer apply existing time limits to content available on its iPlayer live and on-demand service.
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Since 2019, audiences have been able to access programmes on BBC iPlayer for 12 months from broadcast as standard. Older programmes are also available – for example past series of returning titles – but the BBC currently limits their availability. Under its proposals the BBC is proposing to no longer apply these limits and increase the amount of older content on BBC iPlayer.

In its assessment, Ofcom considered how the iPlayer may realistically evolve in light of the BBC’s proposal over the next few years. The BBC’s proposal indicates that it would expect to see an increase of less than three times the current levels of archive content on BBC iPlayer during this time. This calculated Ofcom would constitute a smaller percentage change than the increase in content on BBC iPlayer since the change to BBC iPlayer in 2019. Ofcom also considered how the proposal might affect BBC iPlayer usage, the extent of any audience substitution that could occur, and how this could affect commercial revenues, as well as taking into account developments in the market.

As a result, Ofcom said that it was minded to find the BBC’s proposal is not a material change, having assessed the evidence available, which suggests the impact on individual competitors will be limited. This it said was based on assessing the risks to competition over a reasonable timeframe and does not imply setting limits on how much content the BBC could add. Ofcom stressed that the BBC will still be required to consider whether future changes to BBC iPlayer could have a material impact on competition, and that it still had regulatory tools available to consider significant competition issues which may emerge over the remainder of the BBC’s current Charter period.

Ofcom is inviting feedback on its analysis and provisional views. Responses to today’s consultation must be submitted by 14 November 2022. If, having considered that feedback, its remains of the view that the proposal is not material, the BBC may go ahead and implement the change. Should it conclude the change is material,Ofcom will subject plans to further scrutiny.