A week on from the long-awaited launch of the BBC iPlayer – the new web service that allows viewers to watch BBC TV programmes from the previous seven days – the BBC has received a barrage of complaints and pleas for help from struggling users.
Meanwhile, the BBC's online radio service that allows users to download programmes from the past seven days has been off-air for much of the last week. The BBC had not fixed the problem as Media Week went to press.
More than 1,000 discussions have been initiated in the four sections of the BBC's iPlayer website dedicated to issues and suggestions. The number of posts across the four sections amounted to more than 4,500 as Media Week went to press. The BBC has staff dedicated to responding to posts on the iPlayer website, but users are finding their questions are going unanswered for up to five days. The BBC said more than 100,000 have signed-up to use the iPlayer.
A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC has adopted the beta approach, along with other similar service providers, including 4oD and Joost. All triallists are notified when invited onto the BBC iPlayer Beta that, as this is a beta service, they may encounter technical faults."
As well as technical faults, complainants labelled the process required to work the service as confusing. The BBC's advice reads: "BBC iPlayer Beta is only designed to work on Windows XP running Service Pack 2, with Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Media Player 10 or above.
"However, some users may find that they need to upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11 for the best experience. A reboot is needed if upgrading to Windows Media Player 11."
Visitors to the separate online radio service are met with the message: "We are currently experiencing technical problems with listen again streams on the BBC Radio Player. We regret that many programmes are not available. We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible."
The BBC spokesman added: "We have had a problem with the database that runs the BBC Radio Player. The current issue has arisen in the last couple of weeks. We’ve rebuilt much of the software and have now fixed the worst of the problems."
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