Movie rentals on iTunes could pave the way for content from the BBC’s catch-up service, iPlayer, being offered on Apple’s platform, according to the broadcaster’s Future Media and Technology Director, Ashley Highfield.

Writing on the BBC Internet blog, Highfield says that Apple’s re-launch of the AppleTV (no computer required) is “encouraging” and, furthermore, the BBC could potentially piggyback on Apple’s newly announced movie rental offering, to deliver iPlayer content through iTunes.

… Apple’s (long anticipated) move to a rental model, means that we can look to getting BBC iPlayer onto this platform too, as we should be able to use the rental functionality to allow our programmes to be downloaded, free, but retained for a time window, and then erased, as our rightsholders currently insist.

iPlayer on iTunes wouldn’t just deliver Mac-compatibility to the download version of the BBC’s catch-up service, but would also enable iPlayer content to reach iPods, the iPhone, and Apple’s set-top box, AppleTV.

Moving forward, Highfield gives a strong hint that the BBC’s Internet TV strategy will focus on “working with, rather than against, the existing set-up in the typical home.” Internet-enabled televisions or hybrid Digital TV (DTT) and Internet TV (IP) set-top boxes are both cited as examples.

Of course, another platform, which increasingly exists in a “typical home”, is Microsoft’s XBox 360, a device that already has Internet TV capabilities, and the kind of copy-protection technology that the BBC’s content partners insist on (see ‘BBC content coming to XBox Live?‘)

(via Macworld UK)