BBC shows heading for iTunes?

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 18 Feb 2008 at 12:06

The BBC is to offer television shows through Apple's iTunes service, according to reports.

An industry insider claims that BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, will tomorrow announce plans to sell or rent content through the iTunes store, according to reports on Ars Technica.

BBC Worldwide often funds the production of television shows in return for commercial rights to sell or broadcast them outside of the UK.

BBC content is already available for download from within the UK via the iPlayer service. PC users can download shows, while Mac OS and Linux users can only access content via an online streaming service.

Short clips of shows such as Top Gear are also available on YouTube, to viewers outside of the UK, supported by advertising.

Both Apple and the BBC were unavailable for comment at the time of writing.