BBC’S IPLAYER NOW USED MOSTLY FOR MOBILE VIEWING

The BBC’s iPlayer was originally intended to allow persons who paid the BBC’s license fee to watch the public broadcaster’s programs on their personal computers. But the BBC disclosed today (Thursday) that for the first time its shows were watched on tablets and smartphones more than they were on PCs. It noted that just three years ago, mobile devices accounted for just 5 million requests via the iPlayer a month, but by September of this year they had risen to 70 million. PC requests accounted for 33 million. “With tablets at the top of many people’s Christmas list for 2013, we expect this to continue to grow even further,” Dan Taylor, head of BBC iPlayer, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper.