The BBC is finally offering a boost that Sky customers have enjoyed for a while.
Millions of UK homes continue to switch over to streaming content online rather than using traditional methods such as a TV aerial or satellite dish. Recent stats from Sky show that its Glass TV and Stream Box (which are both powered by broadband) make up the majority of new sales, and there’s now the recent arrival of Freely as well, which offers live TV via the internet.
With endless hours of content to watch, along with its ease of use and simple DIY installation, it’s no surprise that the streaming revolution shows no signs of slowing. However, if you’ve ever tried to watch live sport, you’ll know there is one very annoying issue.
Services such as BBC iPlayer have a delay which can be up to 30-40 seconds. That’s no issues when watching a quiz show or a movie, but it’s a nightmare when tuning into football, rugby or tennis action.
When something major happens during a match, those texts arriving from friends and family, or the roar from the neighbours can ruin things when your TV is so far behind.
It’s something Sky has already begun fixing with a new update to its streaming devices, now cutting the latency down to just a few seconds.
Now, in a bid to match its rival, the BBC has confirmed that it is working on something very similar.
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“The delay on iPlayer has reduced significantly in recent times but is still around 40 seconds,” the BBC explained.
“Many streaming services today have similar delays. On our broadcast services the end to end delay is just 8-10 seconds – a significant difference.
“For some content, viewers may not notice, but for live sport and for live events with a social media following, delays can detract from the viewing experience.
“We are aiming to address these delays whilst maintaining a high quality of experience through our work on ‘low latency streaming’.”
This change is currently in development with the BBC saying that it is offering iPlayer users the chance to test it out before an official release.
Homes with 3rd and 2nd generation Amazon Fire TV Sticks, along with owners of Samsung’s CU8000 and CU8500 TVs can head to their settings and switch on the iPlayer Beta experience.
This test version will then show streams with less lag.
The BBC says that the initial trial will run on BBC Two between 9am and 5pm for viewers who have enabled ‘iPlayer beta’ in settings and have set their location to England or Scotland.
“This trial is to help us understand how well low latency streaming can cope with the real world performance of our viewers’ internet connections. We are starting small but hope to expand the trial as we gain confidence in its performance,” the BBC added.