BBC blocks third-party iPlayer apps
By Hani Megerisi
Posted on 9 Mar 2010 at 12:37
The BBC has closed a "loophole" in the iPlayer that prevents third-party apps from accessing its content.
The move will effectively kill off a series of independent apps that allow viewers to stream and download the BBC's shows, although the broadcaster declined to comment on what measures were taken or the technical details of the "loophole".
“We need to be as certain as we can be that our content rights restrictions are being respected,” online managing director Ian Hunter said on the BBC's blog. “Before we allow a device to access our content we need to check that it is iPlayer and not an application which might break our rules - for example, by storing programmes beyond the 30 day limit, or playing them outside the UK.
We know that a number of applications have been making unauthorised use of some media types and we have tightened security accordingly
“We know that a number of applications have been making unauthorised use of some media types and we have tightened security accordingly... The result was that some applications that 'deep link' to our content may no longer work. It's important to note that this has nothing to do with Flash, and it's nothing to do with support for open source. In fact we continue to make our content available as H.264 or SSL.”
Affected apps
Last week, the broadcaster issued developer Camiloo with a cease-and-desist order for its Rewat.ch app, which allowed users to search the iPlayer’s RSS feed and download content for later viewing.
“We were in discussion with [the BBC] and it flagged up some issues," managing director Mark Newby told PC Pro. "The main issue it had was content providers were worried people would walk away with programmes by downloading them."
IPhone users can still watch the iPlayer via the Safari browser, although this doesn't offer any facility to download shows and watch them offline. The BBC said it was working on a range of legitimate mobile apps.
Another of the affected apps is BeebPlayer for Android, which appears in the 100 Best Apps feature that's included in this month's PC Pro, on sale Thursday. Or the 99 Best Apps feature, as we're now rebranding it...
From around the web
"Another of the affected apps is BeebPlayer for Android, which appears in the 100 Best Apps feature that's included in this month's PC Pro, on sale Thursday. Or the 99 Best Apps feature, as we're now rebranding it..."
...or the 8 best apps after apple pulled all the pr0n apps a couple weeks ago :P
By rozman on 9 Mar 2010 
My app still works!
By Bodragon on 9 Mar 2010
beebplayer still working for me, I just watched Mock the Week on it.
By baldric on 9 Mar 2010
If they've broken TunerFreeMCE then the BBC need to pull their finger out and create their own Windows Media Center plugin to replace it!
By daniel_gough on 9 Mar 2010
@daniel_gough
Try this, I prefer it to TunerFreeMCE
http://tinyurl.com/yahach2
By JStairmand on 9 Mar 2010
But yes the lack of Media Center plugins from the beeb etc is frustrating, hopefully SeeSaw will fill this gap soon.
By JStairmand on 9 Mar 2010
beebplayer still working for me, I just watched Mock the Week on it.
By baldric on 9 Mar 2010
XBMC
I know they broke the XBMC iplayer plugin, which is a shame.
By DaChimp on 9 Mar 2010
Stupid
So all the people using 3rd party apps will now download the content via Bittorrent anyway.
Not the best way to ensure their "content rights restrictions are being respected"
By omnisvalidus on 9 Mar 2010
beebPlayer
The developer of beebPlayer has stated "beebPlayer does not use Flash so is *not* affected by the BBC's SWF Verification changes"
By artiss on 10 Mar 2010
I only mention it because I'm bored but:
'has closed a "loophole" ... that prevents third-party apps from accessing its content'
It's late & I'm drunk, but I think the loophole allowed the apps access rather than prevented.
p.s. anyone know of a one-click solution for turning their non-podcast listen again radio programmes into mp3's?
By Mark_Thompson on 10 Mar 2010
2 weeks
I'd give it about 2 weeks before someone creates a solution - if they are preventing deep-links then it suggests the solution is based around forcing users through the website - so a solution will involve embedding a web browser engine into the downloader app, and either controlling it from the app, or just recording the HTTP traffic and extracting the video stream - at the end of the day there's always going to be a solution, until they start using encrypted streams (and then we'll just need to use screen recording).
I use RadioShift for recording / converting live streams to MP3 - not free though.
By JulesLt on 11 Mar 2010
Uh?
Quote: "we continue to make our content available as H.264 or SSL"
This statement makes no sense. H.264 is an en/decoding format and SSL is a transport method.
By AndyChips on 11 Mar 2010
My app still works too
IPList
http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/iplist/index.html
The IPList program allows you to download BBC program content to a Microsoft Windows PC in QuickTime movie format.
By stevematt on 11 Mar 2010
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