If you’re a solid digital citizen, into the whole legal download thang, the iTunes Store is pretty good. There’s a big, big universe of music and podcasts, but on occasion browsing the US version of the store you see a lot of video content that just isn’t available on the Australian store. You can, being tricky, purchase overseas gift cards and the like to make the US iTunes Store allow you to buy the geo-locked content, but it can be fiddly, and these side doors into the store can close on you, leaving you all credited up and nowhere to go.
Good news is, the Australian iTunes Store just got a little more attractive with the addition of BBC Worldwide video goodness. As of now you can buy episodes of:
- Torchwood
- Doctor Who
- Little Britain
- Spooks
- Ashes to Ashes
- Robin Hood
You can buy individual episode for $2.99 each, or whole seasons, with prices ranging from approximately $20 to $40 – season prices vary show to show.
Those 6 shows are the first offering on the BBC Worldwide channel on iTunes. And of course while I applaud that little old iTunes Store Australia is getting BBC content, we’re not of course getting all of the BBC offerings. Here’s the list available on the iTunes US store:
- Robin Hood
- Little Dorrit
- Merlin
- Skins
- Primeval
- Fawlty Towers
- Bleak House
- Gavin and Stacey
- Little Britain
- Doctor Who
- Mistresses
- Coupling
- The Mighty Boosh
- A Little Bit of Fry & Laurie
- The Sarah Jane Adventures
- Doctor Who: The Classic Series
Luckier are the iTunes UK shoppers, who have a choice of 78 shows to choose from, which is to be expected, hometown channel and all. But you’d think – and hope – that given Australia’s love of the BBC’s work that we’ll soon catch up with the breadth of content offered on the US iTunes store.
The Australian office of BBC Worldwide does say that “New BBC Worldwide content will be released to the store on a regular basis”, so keep an eye on that channel.
