ITV, Channel 4 and soon Channel 5 will offer exclusive streaming channels via their online services. But what about the BBC?
- The iPlayer currently offers seven streaming-only channels, broadcasting 24/7
- ‘Lucky Dip’ channels cover genres including gameshows, history, arts and animation.
- But the streaming channels are less prominent than traditional channels.
The BBC iPlayer has quietly rolled out a number of exclusive streaming TV channels this year. There’s currently seven such channels, plus regular news and sport pop-ups covering major events.
The BBC is tapping into the increasing popularity of streaming channels. For commercial operators, these are also known as Free Ad-supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels, a designation that doesn’t apply to the ad-free BBC. The principle is the same though. From a viewer’s point of view, simply choose a genre or programme you like, select a channel dedicated to that genre or programme, and drop in on a curated stream of content, just like you would on traditional TV platforms.
ITVX contains a handful of exclusive streaming channels. Channel 4 is piloting its first streaming-only channel. Meanwhile, Channel 5’s My5 is combining with FAST channel platform Pluto TV next year.
The BBC meanwhile has offered a variety of pop-up channels on the iPlayer for some time. In the past, that’s included pop-up channels for the FA Cup, Glastonbury and Wimbledon. Since September, the BBC has been stepping up the number of streaming channels. But unlike its competitors, these aren’t overly prominent unless you dig down into a particular genre, and they don’t appear alongside their traditional TV channels.
The BBC’s streaming channels
As of 13th December 2023, the following streaming channels are available on the BBC iPlayer.
- Quiz Channel is a 24/7 stream of the BBC’s best quiz and game shows including The Wheel, Blankety Blank and Only Connect.
- Louis Theroux Channel is the home of non-stop, back-to-back Louis Theroux documentaries.
- Real Lives Channel is for fans of doctors, paramedics and police chases, featuring stories from across the UK, including Ambulance.
- Food Channel provides inspiration from the BBC’s library of cooking shows featuring James Martin, Nigella Lawson and more.
- History Channel delves the archives with Lucy Worsley, Michael Palin and more. The home of second world war documentaries and analysis of historical events.
- Arts Channel: Shakespeare Season All Shakespeare all the time, including from 1972, The Merchant Of Venice starring Maggie Smith and Frank Finlay.
- Non-stop Cartoons CBBC Spin-off streaming service featured back-to-back animated series. Drop in to Shaun The Sheep, Grizzly and the Lemmings, Total Dramarama and more.
News pop-up channels In addition to the above seven channels, BBC News offers various ad-hoc live pop-ups, with ‘talking head’ clips from the BBC’s News coverage, plus live and recorded footage of events.
Where to find the BBC iPlayer channels
The BBC’s definition of a ‘channel’ might differ to other streaming services.
❎️ Unlike ITVX for example, you won’t find streaming-only channels alongside other live TV channels.
▶️ Instead, you’ll need to navigate to the relevant category in the BBC iPlayer to see a box linking to the live stream of the relevant streaming channel.
Perhaps confusingly in the mobile version of the app, you’ll need to browse to the category via the ‘Explore’ tab, rather than in the ‘Home’ tab. For example, via ‘Explore’ and ‘Entertainment’, Quiz Channel is the currently the first option in the Game Shows rail. But if you go to ‘Entertainment’ via the Home tab, you won’t find it there.
The BBC’s treatment of streaming channels may seem odd. For example, Radio 1 TV is counted as a channel and appears alongside BBC One, Two, Three and Four on the iPlayer even though it’s mostly on-demand rather than live content. Streaming channels, as covered above, need additional navigation to find them.
Schedules?
You won’t find a schedule for the streaming channels, so it very much is a lucky dip, a bit like browsing through regular TV channels and stumbling upon something you might not have thought of watching.
As with a regular channel, you can scroll back up to two hours to see the start of the programme currently on-air.
How can the BBC launch all these extra iPlayer Channels?
That’s a question Rob, one of our readers posed recently when he got in touch with us after discovering the BBC Quiz Channel.
Earlier this year, regulator Ofcom gave the BBC greater flexibility.
Ofcom found that the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds are only relatively small players online in terms of market share. Therefore, most changes wouldn’t create much of a commercial impact. As a result, the BBC can now make some changes and enhancements to its online services without Ofcom involvement.
That’s different to if the BBC wanted to add or remove a channel from a traditional TV platform, which would continue to be subject to regulatory scrutiny.
Marc Thornham