BBC iPlayer Business Layer

Name: BBC iPlayer Business Layer API
Brand: BBC iPlayer Business Layer
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentMediaVideo ProcessingapiKey,basic30 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Browse and search BBC iPlayer programmes, episodes, channel schedules, and recommendations. Useful for catalogue agents, search assistants, and connected-device clients.

Quickstart

Get started with BBC iPlayer Business Layer 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:
"search iplayer programmes"

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

Capabilities

What an agent can do with BBC iPlayer Business Layer API.

Look up a programme or episode by PID via /programmes/{pid} and /episodes/{pid}

Browse the catalogue alphabetically with GET /atoz/{letter}/programmes

Fetch a channel's schedule for a date with GET /channels/{channel}/schedule/{date}

Search across iPlayer with GET /search and surface autocomplete via GET /search-suggest

GET STARTED

Start building with BBC iPlayer Business Layer API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for BBC iPlayer Business Layer, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

The BBC iPlayer Business Layer (IBL) is the definitive iPlayer API — the metadata service that powers iPlayer's catalogue, playback, search, and recommendations across web, mobile, and connected devices. It exposes programmes and episodes by PID, channel schedules and highlights, A-Z and category browse, search and search-suggest, plus iPlayer-specific extras like prerolls, postrolls, and 'next episode' hints. With 30 endpoints, IBL is the canonical source any third party should integrate against to surface or play iPlayer content programmatically.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use BBC iPlayer Business Layer API for, with concrete tasks.

★ iPlayer Catalogue Browser

Apps surfacing the iPlayer catalogue can use GET /atoz/{letter}/programmes for alphabetical browse, GET /categories and GET /categories/{category}/programmes for genre browse, and GET /channels for channel listings. Combined with GET /channels/{channel}/schedule/{date}, this is enough to render the core iPlayer browse surfaces without rebuilding metadata locally.

Call GET /atoz/D/programmes, then for each programme fetch GET /programmes/{pid}/episodes to render an A-Z drill-down

Episode Playback Setup

Before playing an iPlayer episode, the client needs episode metadata, prerolls, postrolls, and a 'next episode' hint to chain playback. GET /episodes/{pid} returns metadata, GET /episodes/{pid}/prerolls and /postrolls return ad/promo slots, and GET /episodes/{pid}/next returns the recommended next episode for autoplay.

Call GET /episodes/{pid}, then GET /episodes/{pid}/prerolls and GET /episodes/{pid}/next to assemble the playback session

iPlayer Search Backend

A connected-device search box wires up to GET /search-suggest for autocomplete and GET /search for full results. Each search response includes programmes, episodes, and recommended categories, ready to render in a single results list.

Wire keystrokes to GET /search-suggest, and on submit call GET /search?q={query} to fetch the full result set

Channel Schedule and Highlights

TV apps showing 'what's on' for a BBC channel can call GET /channels/{channel}/schedule/{date} for the day's broadcasts and GET /channels/{channel}/highlights for editorial highlights. Cache by channel+date and refresh against GET /status to detect IBL data updates.

Call GET /channels/bbcone/schedule/2026-06-10 and GET /channels/bbcone/highlights to render the BBC One channel page

Agent-Driven iPlayer Lookup via Jentic

A voice-assistant or chat agent answering 'what new episodes of Line of Duty are on iPlayer?' can use IBL through Jentic to search and walk to the latest episode. Jentic isolates the IBL API key in its vault and exposes the 30 IBL operations as discoverable tools indexed by intent.

Search Jentic for 'search iplayer programmes', load the GET /search schema, and execute with the user's query

Key Endpoints

30 endpoints — the bbc iplayer business layer (ibl) is the definitive iplayer api — the metadata service that powers iplayer's catalogue, playback, search, and recommendations across web, mobile, and connected devices.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/programmes/{pid}

Fetch a programme by PID

GET

/episodes/{pid}

Fetch an episode by PID

GET

/episodes/{pid}/next

Get the recommended next episode

GET

/channels/{channel}/schedule/{date}

Get a channel's schedule for a date

GET

/search

Search iPlayer programmes and episodes

GET

/search-suggest

Autocomplete suggestions for a search query

GET

/atoz/{letter}/programmes

List programmes alphabetically

GET

/categories

List iPlayer categories

GET

/programmes/{pid}

Fetch a programme by PID

GET

/episodes/{pid}

Fetch an episode by PID

GET

/episodes/{pid}/next

Get the recommended next episode

GET

/channels/{channel}/schedule/{date}

Get a channel's schedule for a date

GET

/search

Search iPlayer programmes and episodes

Why though Jentic?

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

Credential isolation

The IBL API key (and any Basic auth credentials, where used) are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped access tokens — raw secrets never enter the agent's context when calling endpoints like GET /search or GET /channels/{channel}/schedule/{date}.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g. 'search iplayer programmes' or 'iplayer channel schedule') and Jentic returns matching IBL operations with their parameter schemas across the 30 available endpoints.

Time to first call

Direct IBL integration: 2-3 days to register for access, map the 30 endpoints, and wire search plus playback flows. Through Jentic: under an hour for the most common queries — search, load schema, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Complementary

BBC Nitro API

BBC programmes-metadata API — pair with IBL when you need full catalogue/franchise data alongside iPlayer playback metadata

Use Nitro for full programmes hierarchy across TV and radio; use IBL for iPlayer-specific playback and search.

Complementary

BBC Radio & Music Services

Radio and music personalisation API — pair with IBL for a full audio+video BBC client

Use IBL for iPlayer (video); use RMS for radio and music.

Alternative

StarCraft 2 API

Unrelated media domain; listed as a placeholder peer in the absence of a competing iPlayer-style API

Not a real alternative — included only because the corpus does not include a competing on-demand video metadata API.

FAQs

Specific to using BBC iPlayer Business Layer API through Jentic.

What authentication does the iPlayer Business Layer API use?

IBL declares two security schemes — an API key and HTTP Basic auth. In practice most read endpoints are gated behind the BBC's developer programme, which issues an API key. Through Jentic, the key is stored encrypted in the vault and only a scoped token reaches the agent.

Can I search BBC iPlayer with this API?

Yes. GET /search?q={query} returns programmes and episodes matching the query, and GET /search-suggest provides autocomplete. The two endpoints together back any iPlayer-style search box.

How do I fetch the iPlayer schedule for a channel through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'iplayer channel schedule', which surfaces GET /channels/{channel}/schedule/{date}. Load the schema, supply the channel slug (e.g. 'bbcone') and date, and execute to receive the day's broadcasts.

What are the rate limits for the IBL API?

The OpenAPI spec does not declare explicit rate limits. IBL is intended for the BBC's own clients, so apply conservative caching (per channel/date) and back off on 429 or 5xx responses. Check the BBC developer portal for any per-account limits.

Can I get an episode's next-episode recommendation?

Yes. GET /episodes/{pid}/next returns the recommended next episode for autoplay, and GET /episodes/{pid}/recommendations returns broader related-content suggestions. Use both together to drive an iPlayer-style 'up next' panel.

Does the IBL API include preroll and postroll metadata for playback?

Yes. GET /episodes/{pid}/prerolls and GET /episodes/{pid}/postrolls return the ad and promo slots for an episode. The client uses these to schedule playback breaks before and after the main content.