Want to watch Doctor Who or Top Gear on your iPad the day it’s broadcast in the UK? The BBC has announced plans to bring their popular iPlayer service to the U.S. as a subscription-based service, and initially, at least, only on the iPad. iPlayer is a video- and audio-on-demand service that lets viewers watch/listen to BBC TV and radio shows broadcast within the last seven days. Much of the material on iPlayer is available only inside the UK, but that’s going to change within the year, according to the BBC.

The earlier leaks are now confirmed to be true by the BBC themselves, who have launched a special version of the iPlayer website for the iPhone and iPod Touch. As of today, users on an iPod Touch or iPhone can browse to bbc.co.uk/iplayer through Safari, and view specifically-encoded videos for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Right now more »

After many online petitions, including one on the government’s website, the BBC did say they would bring out a version of their iPlayer software on Linux and Mac. Their main reason for keeping it on Windows is because it uses Windows Media’s DRM technology – which isn’t that great anyway. Mac users can already go more »