BBC radio shows are being made available to download on smartphones and tablets for the first time.
The vast majority of programming from across the BBC’s stations will be available for 30 days after broadcast, including regular slots such as Annie Mac’s weekday evening show on Radio 1 and almost every show from the BBC Proms on Radio 3, which start on Friday.
Almost all of the 13,500 programmes broadcast each year by Radio 4 will also be available, as will broadcasts from the BBC’s local and national stations.
Listeners will be able to download the programmes from the middle of this week as updates to the Apple and Android iPlayer Radio apps are rolled out.
A small number of shows, including some sports broadcasts, will not be available as the BBC does not have the rights to offer them for download. Downloads will be restricted to Wi-Fi, but the BBC has not ruled out introducing 3G and 4G downloads in the future.
“With over 860m requests for radio streams across all devices on BBC iPlayerRadio in 2014, we’re thrilled to bring offline listening to our audiences,” said BBC Digital general manager of product for radio and music Andrew Scott. “We know this is something they’ve been asking for and we have been working hard to make it possible.”
BBC radio controller for multiplatform Mark Friend said: “The spectacular success of the BBC’s podcasts, with around 70m downloads in May, shows that people want to download high-quality audio to listen to at their convenience. Extending this to make almost all of the BBC’s radio programmes downloadable, including comedy, music and drama, will delight our audience which has been asking for this.”
In October, the BBC extended the length of time after broadcast shows can be watched on iPlayer to 30 days.
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