BBC Nitro API

Name: BBC Nitro API API
Brand: BBC Nitro API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMediaContent DeliveryapiKey25 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Look up BBC programmes, episodes, brands, broadcasts, and schedules via the Nitro programmes-metadata API. Useful for EPG agents, content directories, and recommendation systems.

Quickstart

Get started with BBC Nitro API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"fetch bbc episode metadata"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with BBC Nitro API API.

Search programmes, brands, episodes, and items via the top-level Nitro endpoints

Walk a brand's hierarchy with /v1/brands/{pid} and /v1/brands/{pid}/franchises/

Fetch episode metadata and ancestors using /v1/episodes/{pid} and /v1/episodes/{pid}/ancestors/

Pull broadcast schedules across BBC TV and radio services with /broadcasts and /schedules

GET STARTED

Start building with BBC Nitro API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for BBC Nitro API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

BBC Nitro is the BBC's programmes-metadata API — a structured catalogue of every programme, brand, series, episode, broadcast, and contributor across BBC TV and radio. The API exposes top-level resources for programmes, broadcasts, schedules, services, and master brands, plus deeper /v1 endpoints for brand and episode hierarchies including ancestors, franchises, and child resources. It is the canonical source of programme metadata used by EPGs, recommendation systems, and third-party listings publishers, secured by an API key passed in the header.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use BBC Nitro API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ Electronic Programme Guide (EPG)

TV listings publishers and connected-TV apps need a structured EPG covering every BBC channel. The Nitro API exposes GET /broadcasts and GET /schedules for the time-based listings, plus GET /services and GET /master_brands to identify which channel each broadcast belongs to. The dataset refreshes daily, suitable for next-day EPG generation.

Call GET /schedules with a date range, join against GET /services to label each broadcast with its channel, and emit a 7-day EPG JSON

Programme Hierarchy and Franchise Browsing

An app browsing BBC programme hierarchies (brand → series → episode) can use GET /v1/brands/{pid}, GET /v1/brands/{pid}/franchises/, and GET /v1/episodes/{pid}/ancestors/ to walk the structure. This enables related-content surfaces like 'more from Doctor Who' or 'other series in this franchise' without hand-coded mapping.

Call GET /v1/episodes/{pid}/ancestors/ for the current episode, then GET /v1/brands/{ancestor.pid}/franchises/ to surface related franchises

Programme Search and Catalogue Sync

Catalogue services (search engines, recommendation systems) sync the BBC programmes catalogue using GET /programmes, GET /items, and GET /programme_details. The endpoints support filters and pagination so even a full-catalogue sync can be partitioned into manageable batches.

Walk GET /programmes with paging until empty, store each programme record, and refresh nightly via GET /programme_details for changed items

Agent-Driven Programme Lookup via Jentic

A chat agent answering 'what was the most recent episode of Newsnight?' can use the BBC Nitro API through Jentic to search programmes and walk to the latest episode. Jentic isolates the Nitro API key in its vault and exposes the 25 Nitro operations as discoverable tools indexed by intent.

Search Jentic for 'fetch bbc episode metadata', load the GET /v1/episodes/{pid} schema, and execute with the requested PID

Key Endpoints

25 endpoints — bbc nitro is the bbc's programmes-metadata api — a structured catalogue of every programme, brand, series, episode, broadcast, and contributor across bbc tv and radio.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/programmes

List or search BBC programmes

GET

/broadcasts

Fetch broadcast metadata

GET

/schedules

Fetch broadcast schedules

GET

/services

List BBC services (channels)

GET

/v1/brands/{pid}

Fetch a brand by PID

GET

/v1/episodes/{pid}

Fetch an episode by PID

GET

/v1/episodes/{pid}/ancestors/

Get an episode's ancestors (brand and series)

GET

/programmes

List or search BBC programmes

GET

/broadcasts

Fetch broadcast metadata

GET

/schedules

Fetch broadcast schedules

GET

/services

List BBC services (channels)

GET

/v1/brands/{pid}

Fetch a brand by PID

GET

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

The Nitro API key is stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive a scoped access token, so the raw key never sits in the agent's prompt or memory when calling endpoints like GET /v1/episodes/{pid}/ancestors/.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g. 'fetch bbc episode metadata' or 'fetch bbc broadcast schedule') and Jentic returns matching Nitro operations with their parameter schemas across the 25 available endpoints.

Time to first call

Direct Nitro integration: 1-2 days to register for an API key, learn the brand-series-episode hierarchy, and wire pagination. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load schema, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

BBC Radio & Music Services

Personalisation and music-focused API on top of BBC content — pair with Nitro for the underlying programmes data

Use Nitro for raw programme metadata; use RMS for radio/music personalisation surfaces.

Complementary

BBC iPlayer Business Layer

iPlayer-specific metadata layer — pair with Nitro to serve playback alongside catalogue browsing

Use iPlayer Business Layer for playback-ready episode lookup; use Nitro for full catalogue and franchise navigation.

Alternative

StarCraft 2 API

Unrelated media domain; included as media-API peer since the corpus has no direct Nitro competitor

Not a real alternative — listed only because the corpus does not include a competing TV-metadata API.

FAQs

Specific to using BBC Nitro API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the BBC Nitro API use?

Nitro uses an API key (the spec defines an api_key security scheme). Register for access through the BBC's developer programme and pass the key as a header. Through Jentic, the key is stored encrypted in the vault and the agent only receives a scoped token when calling endpoints like GET /v1/episodes/{pid}.

Can I get BBC programme metadata with the Nitro API?

Yes. GET /programmes returns programmes (with paging), GET /v1/brands/{pid} fetches a brand, and GET /v1/episodes/{pid} fetches an episode. Use GET /v1/episodes/{pid}/ancestors/ to traverse up the brand-series-episode hierarchy.

How do I fetch the BBC broadcast schedule through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'fetch bbc broadcast schedule', which surfaces GET /schedules. Load the schema, supply a service or date filter, and execute. Combine with GET /services to label each broadcast with its channel.

What are the rate limits for the BBC Nitro API?

The OpenAPI spec does not declare explicit rate limits. The BBC's developer programme sets per-account quotas — apply conservative paging (page size ≤ 30) and respect 429 responses. Check your Nitro account dashboard for current limits.

Can I search for episodes by title with Nitro?

Yes. GET /programmes and GET /items accept query parameters for title and other metadata filters. Use those for catalogue search; for known PIDs, prefer the /v1 endpoints which return richer hierarchical data.

Does the Nitro API include people and image metadata?

Yes. GET /people lists contributors, presenters, and other people, and GET /images returns image metadata (URLs, dimensions). Both can be filtered by associated programme PID for client rendering.