BBC brings iPlayer to the fourth-gen Apple TV in the UK

The app sports a look consistent with tvOS, and live streams of BBC channels as well as on-demand video. Access is restricted to the U.K. as a free perk for the country's TV license fee payers.

Different menu layers let users see highlights, popular choices, and show/genre picks, as well as switch between channels.

In October the BBC briefly hinted that iPlayer would be coming to the Apple TV, but at the time said only that it would arrive in "the coming months." The debut is particularly notable since previous Apple TV models lacked an iPlayer app, even if people could get around this to a degree by using AirPlay in the iOS client.

The fourth-gen set-top launched in late October. Since then the number of tvOS apps has grown rapidly, topping over 2,624 as of Dec. 3. Another recent media provider to jump on board was Pandora.