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Over 17-mn programs watched on iPlayer- BBC

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CIOL Bureau
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LONDON, ENGLAND: Over 17 million programs were watched or downloaded on-demand via the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service in the first seven weeks since its full launch, the BBC said today.

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Mark Thompson, director general of BBC has described the arrival of the iPlayer as on a level with the introduction of the first color television broadcasts in the 1960s, and its early take up has impressed many analysts.

The publicly funded corporation said daily volumes increased strongly during January and February, with over 2.2 million people watching a program on the service in the first month of the year.

The iPlayer is a free on-demand service, which allows viewers watch programs they have missed in the past week. It is also part of the industry's bid to keep younger people watching traditionally made programs, as more turn to the Internet for their entertainment instead of TV.

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In Britain it faces competition from similar services provided by Channel 4 and ITV and from popular video-sharing sites such as YouTube.

Programs that performed well on the service included the opening game of the Six Nations rugby tournament between England and Wales and dramas including Ashes to Ashes and Life in Cold Blood.

The corporation will also produce branded entertainment channels showing BBC clips on Yahoo, Internet technology firm Blinkx and MSN, with the clips clicking through to the iPlayer for the full program.

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