LONDON, March 9 (UPI) -- Britain's BBC is planning a program download service as an iTunes rival to gain income from both its old and new programming, paidContent.org reports.
The broadcaster wants to make all its shows available as download-to-own, at prices around $3 per show under a scheme called Project Barcelona, paidContent said.
British viewers already pay a $228 annual television license fee under the BBC's Royal Charter.
Currently, new BBC TV and radio shows are available to watch or listen to again via the multiplatform iPlayer service for as long as 30 days after transmission. After that, rights are passed to the commercial outfit BBC Worldwide or back to shows' original producers, who license them to commercial services including iTunes.
The BBC is concerned that only 7 percent of its archive repertoire is available through third parties in this way and wants to make the remaining 93 percent available through an own-brand service, the report said.
To compete with iTunes, the BBC is promising producers a greater share of episode download prices than the iTunes Store offer -- an average 63 cents on a $3 episode fee compared with 44 cents from iTunes, which takes a 30 percent commission, paidContent reported.
