BBC blocks iPlayer mobile application

App would have allowed users to browse, view and download content from the BBC

iPhone application blocked by BBC

The BBC has blocked an iPhone application that would have allowed users to browse, view and download content from the BBC.

The application, called Rewat.ch, was developed by Manchester-based software developer Camiloo and would have been sold for £1.19. The application allowed users to browse all BBC iPlayer RSS feeds from a user interface on their iPhone or iPod touch and complied with the BBC’s seven-day catch-up policy.

Rewat.ch would also have enabled users to download episodes from the BBC iPlayer service for the length of time set by the corporation. The app would have made it possible to watch BBC shows when not connected to a network, according to a report on tech web site MacVideo.

The application also supported subtitles, something the iPlayer for iPhone app doesn’t do.

Camiloo said it had planned to add push notifications of favourite programme availability, automatic downloading of favourite episodes and a 'Twitter conversations' ticker.

The move comes after the BBC released an iPhone app allowing viewers to watch live news and sport at the Mobile World Congress last month; industry commentators had been surprised that the BBC, a technology leader in many ways, had been so late in delivering a live mobile application to the market.