BBC to launch iPlayer on Windows Phones

The BBC has signed a deal with Microsoft to launch its iPlayer VoD service on the Windows Phone platform in the UK.

Announcing the move, the head of business development for the BBC’s Future Media division, Cyrus Saihan, said that the BBC will release an iPlayer shortcut that will be available in the Windows Phone store, enabling the iPlayer site to work on Windows Phone 7.5 and 8 models via a live tile.

The launch is expected in the next few months, and comes after the BBC recently added iPlayer mobile site support for the new Blackberry Z10 phone. The corporation says that according to its latest figures, it estimates that more than 650 different device types can now access BBC iPlayer.

The news comes after the BBC announced record breaking stats for the iPlayer in January. There were 272 million iPlayer requests in January, up 26% on the previous month. TV requests passed the 200 million mark for the first time. There were 37 million TV requests on tablets, up from 26 million in December, and requests on mobile devices grew to 38 million from 28 million in December.