BBC News Unveils Service for Internet-Connected TVs

LONDON: The BBC has unveiled a new service that will bring video and text content from BBC News Online directly to consumers’ Internet-connected TV sets, beginning with Samsung’s range of Smart TVs.

The pubcaster says the new service is part of a broader company-wide strategy to give license-fee payers greater value for money by bringing BBC online content to a range of devices. The BBC is an early mover in the Smart TV space in the U.K., which is expected to have an installed base of 36 million TV sets by the end of 2016.

"Internet-connected TV is developing as a medium and presents an exciting and engaging complement to our existing TV services," said Phil Fearnley, general manager for news and knowledge at BBC Future Media. "As we’ve seen with BBC iPlayer in the U.K., and our global smartphone applications, audiences enjoy the freedom and flexibility of BBC services at a time and place that suits them—whether on the move or on the living-room TV. Looking forward, we are particularly interested in creating seamless, personalized, and location-aware experiences of BBC News across all connected devices—mobiles, tablets, computers, and TVs. Internet-connected TV is still in its infancy, but innovations such as this hint at the long-term creative potential of the internet as a medium."

The BBC News product for connected TV is available free of charge from the Samsung Apps Store on Samsung Smart TVs.