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Currently iPlayer content is distributed by Akamai, which deploys servers within ISPs own facilities to hold cached data. This means that when the ISPs deliver the content to an end user, they can deliver it from local Akamai servers and don’t have to buy bandwidth to carry the content from afar.

But in a recent blog post, Anthony Rose, the BBC’s head of Digital Media Technology, hinted that Level 3 Communications would be distributing iPlayer content as the BBC adopts new, higher-quality audio and video codecs.

“Level 3, a content distribution network (CDN) is now able to stream H.264 content to ISPs in the UK,” he wrote.

Unlike Akamai, Level 3 distributes all its content from a central server farm. And while Akamai only charges the content provider, in this case the BBC, Level 3 splits the cost between the provider and the ISPs that receive the content. For the BBC, which has to bear the full cost of iPlayer, sharing the costs in this way would make sense.

Thinkbroadband

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appears to think that the switch is a done deal, eliciting a condemnation from Zen Internet.

“Zen Internet is expecting the decision to increase its costs as economically, all but a select few large networks must pay Level 3 to receive traffic originated within their network,” the ISP said in a statement. “The previous solution using Akamai used content hosted on a large number of small networks which are sited close to end-users and to which access is freely given. This removes the reliance on a single network, improving robustness.”

ISPs have thus far given a less than enthusiastic welcome to iPlayer, which has sent internet video traffic soaring in the UK, adding an estimated £1 million to ISPs’ costs in the first month of 2008 alone. The BBC’s former head of Future Media & Technology, Ashley Highfield, has warned that the corporation is prepared to retaliate if ISPs sought to curb costs by restricting access to iPlayer content.

UPDATE: The BBC said in a statement that it is not switching to Level 3, but that the situation was under constant review.

“We use a variety of distribution methods to meet our needs, and are always looking at ways of reducing both our own costs and those of ISPs,” a spokesman said. πFurthermore, we canvass a wide variety of ISPs when making such decisions, and will obviously talk to ISPs if particular issues arise.”