ABC iview is a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

and catch-up TV service run by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

. Currently iview video content can only be viewed by users in Australia. As of 2016, ABC iview attracts around 50 million plays monthly and accounts for around half of the total time streamed by Australian TV video services.

History

After running for several months in

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form under the name "ABC Playback", the service became available as a Flash website in July 2008. This was the next step after the video podcasting of ABC TV programs since July 2006. The iview Flash website was redesigned in 2009 and 2010, to cater for a large increase in content. An

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

app for

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

s was launched in December 2010, followed by a mobile version for iPhone in June 2012. An iview Android app supporting phones and tablets on Android 4.0.3 and above was released on 18 December 2013. Over the following years, iview was released to a range of Smart TVs, games consoles and other devices.

Content and programming

ABC iview provides on-demand access to almost all the TV programs that are broadcast on the ABC's linear broadcast channels ( ABC TV,

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

, ABC Kids,

ABC Entertains ABC Entertains is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC ME. It rebra ...

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

), as well as simulcast live streams of those channels and original content and programs acquired exclusively for ABC iview. Programs are categorised by these genres: * Arts * Culture * Comedy * Documentary * Drama * Education * Lifestyle * News and current affairs * Panel and discussion * Regional Australia * Sport In September 2015, the ABC added a dedicated Arts channel to iview. Some shows premiere on iview before they feature on broadcast television, such as ''

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'' and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

''.

Live streams

* In late 2010, a live stream of ABC News 24 was made available on the iview website, and then subsequently on iOS and Android apps. * On 1 December 2015, a simulcast live stream of the main ABC TV channel was added to the iview website, iOS and Android apps. * On 18 July 2016, the ABC added simulcast live streams for all the remaining broadcast channels (ABC2/ABC Kids, ABC3). *On 1 May 2018, the ABC added state-based streams (VIC, QLD, TAS, NT, NSW, WA, SA, ACT) of ABC main channel.

Devices and access

Website

Th
iview website
streams video at up to 4,500Kbps using HTML5 based technology.

Mobile devices

* Apple iPad (from 2010) *

Apple iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphone, smartphones developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The iPhone (1st generation), first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and ...

and

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...

(from 2012) * Android phones and tablets on Android v5.0 and above (from 2019)

Smart TVs

* Sony Bravia * Samsung Smart TVs ("Orsay") (from 2011) and Samsung Tizen OS (from 2015) *

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

Viera Cast (from 2011) * LG Netcast (from 2011) &

WebOS webOS, also known as LG webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices, such as smart TVs, that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially developed by Palm, Inc. (which was acquired by Hewlett ...

(from 2014) * FreeviewPlus certified ( HbbTV) devices (from 2014) * Hisense Smart TVs (from February 2020)

Video game consoles

* Microsoft Xbox 360 (2011–2018) * Microsoft Xbox One (from 2015) * Microsoft Xbox Series X/S (from 2020) * Sony PlayStation 3 (from 2008) * Sony PlayStation 4 (from 2015) * Sony PlayStation 5 (from 2020)

Media streamers

* Foxtel IQ (from 2019) *

Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...

4th generation and later (from March 2016) *

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

TV (from December 2015) * Fetch TV (from 2013) *

Chromecast Chromecast is a discontinued line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streaming media, streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The u ...

devices

Offline viewing

Unlike the ABC's podcasts, programs on the iview service are not officially downloadable and are only available to watch for a short time after the program has aired on the ABC. In 2012 the ABC sent a legal notice to the author of an

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

program called Python-iView which enabled users to download videos from the ABC. Other download tools such as

youtube-dl youtube-dl is a Free and open-source software, free and open source software tool for Download, downloading video and audio from YouTube and over 1,000 other video hosting websites. It is released under the Unlicense software license. As of Sep ...

continue to claim support for unofficially downloading from the site.

Unmetering

In late 2008 the iview website video player was updated to allow for unmetering ( zero-rating) by several Australian ISPs through network peering arrangements. The ISPs included Internode, iPrimus, Westnet, Apex Internet and Adam Internet.

iiNet iiNet Limited is an Australian internet service provider and telecommunications company that sells NBN plans, 4G and 5G Home Wireless Internet and services on its ULTRA Broadband Cable, FTTB and VDSL2 networks. iiNet also sells mobile pho ...

was able to offer iview unmetered without the peering upgrade. In addition,

AARNet AARNet (Australian Academic and Research Network) provides Internet services to the Australian education and research communities and their research partners. AARNet built the Internet in Australia. In 1995, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' C ...

, Cinenet, and Comcen since offer unmetered access to iview. ABC TV live streams and content not streamed using

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...

(i.e. through the iPad and Internet connected TVs) is currently not unmetered, however this may change in the future. In October 2016, Optus added ABC iview to their zero-rating offer for Optus mobile customers.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abc Iview Video on demand services Media players Australian Broadcasting Corporation television Internet television channels Mass media companies established in 2008 Australian companies established in 2008 Australian streaming companies Android (operating system) software IOS software PlayStation 3 software PlayStation 4 software Xbox One software Xbox Series X and Series S software