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Business News Digital Media
BBC to shut down iPlayer Radio app
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 10 September 2019
The BBC has announced that it will begin to shut down its iPlayer Radio app next week, focussing instead on the alternative BBC Sounds app that it launched last year.
“We’ve been improving Sounds all the time, and the time has come to switch off iPlayer Radio so the BBC only has one audio app”, says James Purnell, the Beeb’s Director of Radio & Education. “We said that was the plan when we launched Sounds, but have kept iPlayer Radio going till now as there was well-used functionality in iPlayer Radio which we wanted to implement – and improve on – in Sounds”.
The broadcaster reckons that the bulk of the major functions in the iPlayer Radio app are now available in its BBC Sounds counterpart. And there are also now more people using Sounds than the older app, according to the latest stats.
Users still clinging onto iPlayer Radio will have until the end of the month to make the switch. Which is all well and good if you’re based in the UK. However, while iPlayer Radio is available internationally, BBC Sounds is not. Something overseas BBC Radio listeners have pointed out.
Purnell has said that it’s hoped that BBC Sounds will be made available outside the UK in the future, although exactly when that might happen is unclear.
