BBC Store launches with packed comedy catalogue
BBC Store has been launched at bbcstore.com
The new service allows users to buy and keep thousands of hours of BBC television programming as digital downloads.
Prices start from £1.89 per episode, with an average whole-series price of £7.99. Where applicable, HD versions of episodes are available for a small surplus.
BBC Store currently exists as a standalone website and Windows 10 app, with mobile and tablet apps for Android and iOS devices due to launch in December.
To mark its opening, users will get a 25% discount on their first BBC Store purchase with the code WELCOME25.
The service is intended to complement - and eventually replace - commercial arm BBC Worldwide's existing DVD and Blu-ray business, and will not affect iPlayer.
Launching today, BBC Store already contains more than 7,000 hours of material from the BBC Television Archive, with managers estimating around 10,000 hours of content will be available this time next year.
Store's operator, BBC Worldwide, intends to expand the collection by at least 50-70 hours every week, comprising new programmes as they are broadcast, and fresh additions from the corporation's vast archives.
The complete BBC Television Archive holds more than four million items, less than 10% of which have ever been commercially available in any format.
Programming such as current affairs, sports and live events are unlikely to ever be available due to to rights licensing by outside organisations, but BBC Worldwide intends to publish as much comedy, entertainment, drama and documentary content as possible.
BBC Store's initial programme catalogue largely consists of big-name programming rather than obscure titles and archive rarities.
Many series and one-off programmes are available in their own right, whilst others have been specially curated as part of collections dedicated to the likes of Steve Coogan, Dennis Potter and Louis Theroux.
Headline comedy offerings include the complete Dad's Army, available for the first time as a digital download; The Fast Show; The Likely Lads; The Office; Absolutely Fabulous; and much of both Red Dwarf and Only Fools And Horses.
Rik Mayall's Kevin Turvey - The Man Behind The Green Door is also amidst the collection, as is Terry And June; with many more obscure comedy titles promised to come later this year.
Additionally, marking the recent 40th anniversary of the series, Fawlty Towers will be subject to special promotional offers.
Some programming has been sourced from BBC Worldwide's DVD master material and thus will retain cuts and edits as currently available on DVD, rather than reflecting original broadcast - and in some cases, earlier DVD or VHS release - versions.
It is hoped that extra material, such as DVD special features, will be available in future.
BBC Store will also be publishing a number of exclusive commissions. Notably, one such launch offering will be Top Gear: The Races, a seven part series of highlights from Top Gear's racing challenges, presented by Friends and Episodes star Matt LeBlanc.
A comedy exclusive, The Fast Show At 21: An Evening With Paul Whitehouse And Charlie Higson, will be available exclusively to users of the Windows 10 BBC Store app, after an initial free availability window of noon to midnight GMT on Sunday 15th November 2015.
The BBC will continue to make its programmes available to third parties for streaming and download, such as Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. Programmes will not be removed from these services.
BBC Store gift cards are now available at high street retailers. Digital gifting options will be available at a later date.
BBC Store is a UK-only, TV-focused service.
As with all of BBC Worldwide's ventures, profits raised from BBC Store will be returned to and invested into the BBC proper.
10 Picks from BCG
Not the famous Rik Mayall show, but a 1984 sitcom starring Windsor Davies as the custodian of an agricultural museum.
The classic BBC sitcom from John Cleese and Connie Booth. 12 brilliant scripts make for two series of laugh-out-loud adventures.
An early on-screen pairing of a much-loved comedy duo. These episodes feature funny sketches from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, two of the funniest comedy actors to have been born in Britain.
Often overlooked but brilliantly funny spoofs from Monty Python stars Michael Palin and Terry Jones.
Stephen Fry and John Bird star in this gleeful satire focused on the anti-social world of public relations.
Hi-De-Hi!, campers! Welcome to Maplin's Holiday Camp: the much-loved Croft & Perry classic. Buy Series 1 and show the Store there's demand for the rest.
Kevin Turvey: The Man Behind The Green Door
Never before available, this show stars late comedy great Rik Mayall as clueless self-styled "investigative journalist" Kevin Turvey.
The deeply dark cult hit written by and starring Julia Davis. It may be over 10 years old now, but it's still just as funny.
The 1990s adaptation of the famed Scottish tales, starring Gregor Fisher as the skipper of the puffer Vital Spark.
A brilliant, witty childrens' comedy that'll entertain adults equally as much as the kids. It's written by and stars Tony Robinson.