Samsung TVs Get BBC News App

With web-connected TV come more widgets and apps than you can count.

The advent of Internet-connected TVs has meant games and weather widgets have made the jump from your phone to your television. Eager not to miss out on all the fun, the BBC has just announced an app for owners of these web-connected sets. Bringing together existing video and news content from BBC News Online, the app will eventually be available on a larger range of devices but is limited to Samsung’s line of Smart TVs for now.

Of course, you could argue that those with access to the Beeb’s 24 hour news channel have no need for such an app. However, the BBC suggests otherwise, revealing that the BBC News app has been developed with the 24-hour channel in mind.

"The BBC News product for connected TV has been designed as a complement to the BBC's live 24-hour news channel," the broadcaster said in a statement. "Editorial teams in the newsrooms will curate clips around the clock to run alongside text-based news from BBC News Online – all started, stopped, and navigated via the remote control."

"By combining the latest and best reports in video from the BBC's unrivalled newsgathering and TV news teams with the extensive range of up-to-the-minute reporting from the BBC News website, this service broadens the availability of the BBC's world-class journalism to audiences in a new and innovative on-demand format," said Steve Herrmann, Editor of the BBC News website.

The news follows the BBC’s announcement that it would soon begin the global roll-out of its iPlayer web application. Launched several years ago in the UK, iPlayer allows users to catch up on recent episodes of shows they may have missed by watching for free online. Western Europe will be the first outside of England to get a taste of the new iPlayer, which will apparently be a paid service.