David Farnor | On 05, Dec 2014

BBC iPlayer has arrived on Xbox One just in time for Christmas.

The BBC has also extended the time you have to download TV shows to watch offline on a range of mobiles, tablets and computers – from 7 to 30 days – giving you the best chance of catching up with festive content during the busy period. (Last year’s holidays saw iPlayer break its viewing figure records, thanks to EastEnders and Doctor Who.) This follows a similar extension in October, which increased the streaming catch-up window from one week to a month.

Today’s announcements build on a packed 2014 for BBC iPlayer, which saw a new version launch in March, with the service completely redesigned.

2014 is also a year that has seen the BBC commission a growing amount of online exclusives, from a celebration of 50 years of Notting Hill Carnival and London Fashion Week to new talent Drama films, original Comedy Shorts starring household names like Bob Mortimer, and Frankie Boyle’s Scottish Referendum Autopsy.

The arrival on Xbox One means that BBC iPlayer is now available on over 1,200 devices including mobiles, tablets, computers and connected TVs. And viewers are making the most of that living room compatibility: as of October, 25 per cent of requests for TV programmes now come from BBC iPlayer on Connected TVs (including games consoles, Smart TVs, etc), beating requests from computers (23 per cent) for the first time (although handheld devices still make up 52 per cent of requests.

Victoria Jaye, Head of TV Content for BBC iPlayer adds: “This Christmas BBC iPlayer is coming home. With a huge 1 in 4 requests now coming from TV sets, new iPlayer’s popularity is going beyond solo, small screen viewing – it’s also the place to gather round and recreate the magic of shared viewing on BBC One and Two, but at a time that suits your family. ”

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