The BBC has launched an app to allow the delivery of the corporation's news content direct to Samsung televisions in an attempt to position itself for the rise of internet-connected TV viewing.
The BBC News app is initially only available on Samsung's range of internet-connected TVs, but the corporation is looking to partner with other manufacturers including Sony and LG.
The app will also be available on YouView, the video-on-demand venture backed by the BBC, when the much-delayed set-top boxes launch next year.
BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, will launch an international version of the product funded by advertising, expanding on the recent rollout of the iPlayer to European audiences.
For the first time, viewers can access the full range of content – including text and video – available on the BBC News website via a TV set.
Unveiling the product in London on Friday, Ralph Rivera, the BBC's director of digital media for future media and technology, said the app is a complement to the corporation's 24-hour news channel.
"I look at this as different pieces of glass to get to content that we have online, versus the silos that people try and create between [TV, laptop and mobile]," he said. "News in general is moving to a continuous stream live and a lot of people will tune into that."
The app is designed to look and feel like the BBC TV channel but with the depth of content available on the BBC News site, like an advanced red button service.
Unlike the BBC News app for the iPhone – which has been downloaded more than 6m times since its launch – viewers cannot live-stream the 24-hour news channel app, although the corporation hinted that could follow once connected TVs become more advanced.
Rivera also confirmed that plans to close half of the BBC's 400 top-level domains as part of 25% cuts to the corporation's online budget, announced in January, were still in the consultation period. He said that no websites had yet been closed, with the consulation period due to end in a month or two.
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