BBC Worldwide offers Doctor Who episodes on Facebook

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of BBC, is set to offer a series of digitally-remastered Doctor Who stories to rent on Facebook.

Using Facebook credits, fans of the sci-fi TV series can visit the official Doctor Who Facebook page, where they can stream a selection of nine stories, each containing several episodes, from the history of the Time Lord, including digitally remastered classics such as Tomb of the Cybermen, as well as more modern stories.

Facebook will also attract an exclusive, with BBC Worldwide streaming The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, a serial that ran for four weeks in the late 80s, and which has never been released on DVD.

Doctor Who fans in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand will be able to watch the programmes from Wednesday 13th of July and, once rented, they will be viewable for 48 hours.

John Smith, Chief Executive at BBC Worldwide, said:

“As we have grown internationally, we’ve seen through our Facebook channel that fans who are loving the new series are asking for a guide into our rich Doctor Who back catalogue. Our approach to Facebook and other leading edge platforms is to be right there alongside them in fostering innovation. We see this service as a perfect way to give our fans what they want, as well as a great way for them to get their fix between now and the autumn when Series Six continues”.

For those new to Facebook credits, credits can be purchased within an app, or through the payments tab within the users account settings.

Christian Hernandez, Director, Platform Partnerships, at Facebook said:

“Millions of people engage with their favourite TV shows on Facebook every day and we’re now seeing broadcasters look at innovative ways to use Facebook tools to connect their fans with exclusive content. Through its Facebook page, BBC Worldwide is giving Doctor Who fans a quick and easy way to access these iconic episodes.”

Doctor Who is one of BBC Worldwide’s flagship brands, and it’s sold to over 50 countries across the world.

Although Facebook is primarily recognized as a social networking tool, it’s also transforming itself into a multimedia communications and entertainment platform. Last week Facebook announced that video chat was to be made available on the platform, and we also reported back in March that Warner Bros. was making some of its movies available to rent through its official fan pages. Whilst it has also been rumored that Facebook will facilitate direct music streaming from Spotify at some point in the future.

This is the first time that BBC Worldwide has made TV shows available to rent on Facebook, but if successful, it’s likely that it will launch similar streaming initiatives on the social network in the future.