Users of Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch in 16 European countries may live-stream the ”BBC World News” (see below) for free over 3G and WiFi, after paying 7.99 euros ($11.18) to purchase the application from the iTunes App Store, the BBC reports.
The countries where the “BBC World News” app is available are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
The application also includes access to the BBC’s cellular news Web site. When viewing the “BBC World News” live TV feed, the quality is “standard” over 3G, but available for viewing in higher quality, if desired, over WiFi.
The BBC cautions users that approximately 7.2MB are streamed every ten minutes when watching the TV program. So you had better be on an unlimited data plan — or wealthy if you plan to watch it on a per-kilobyte or per-megabyte plan (such as when roaming).
No others need apply
For the fun of it, I clicked on the link on the BBC page to obtain the “BBC World News” app. Up popped a message that read: “The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the U.S. store, but it’s available in the French store. Click Change Store to view this item.”
So I clicked and the app was displayed (see below). I don’t have an iPhone (although it’s getting increasingly tempting with each new OS and new applications) or an iPod touch.
Even if I did have the phone or iPod, I assume the geographical restriction would prohibit the “BBC World News” from being streamed over AT&T Mobility — if I were even allowed to purchase it from the French App Store while in the United States. I didn’t try to find out.
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