STV Player is a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

service owned by STV Group and available free-of-charge across the UK, online, on mobile and on all major TV platforms, including Sky Glass, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Freeview Play,

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK Public broadcasting, public service broadcasters, BBC, ...

and

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

. Officially launched in July 2009 following a

soft launch A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it wi ...

the previous year, STV Player was initially established as an online catch-up service for viewers of the STV channel in Scotland. The platform has since rolled out UK-wide as an advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) service with a focus on international drama box sets. In February 2019, STV Player+ was launched, allowing viewers with a monthly subscription to stream and download Player content without pre-roll or mid-roll advertising. In January 2021, after launching on Sky Q in all four nations of the UK the previous month, STV Player reported that its monthly active user base had grown by a fifth and online viewing on the platform had doubled year-on-year. It was nominated for "best on demand service of the year" at the Edinburgh International Television Festival's annual awards ceremony in 2021.

Programming

STV Player provides a combination of Channel 3 network content such as ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'', ''The Masked Singer'' and ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', home-grown productions such as '' Scotland Tonight'' and '' Taggart,'' and international drama box sets including ''The Bridge'', ''Janet King'' and ''Ice''. Channel 3 network content is not available to viewers outside North and Central Scotland, as ITVX owns the rights to show this in

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...

regions. In April 2020, STV announced plans to provide every episode of classic soap opera '' Take the High Road'', produced by its production arm STV Studios between 1980 and 2003, on STV Player. A content deal with distributor Banijay in July 2021, described at the time as STV Player's "biggest ever", brought over 1,200 hours of new drama and factual programming to the platform for viewers across the UK. In January 2023, STV Player signed a deal with distributor

All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group consists of more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from the Uni ...

to become the first streaming service to provide every episode of classic soap ''Brookside'' since it was cancelled by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 2003. Original cast members Claire Sweeney and Sunetra Sarker praised the decision to relaunch the show on STV Player.

Streaming Issues

In April 2014, STV Player experienced downtime during its broadcast of '' Salmond & Darling: The Debate''—the first televised debate for the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. STV had secured exclusive rights to the broadcast, and refused to offer it to any other broadcaster (including the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

), while STV's network ITV did not choose to pick up the live airing of the debate across the rest of the UK (excluding the

ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...

region), Unfortunately, a configuration issue with a large scale third party providing content distribution for the event prevented audience members from watching parts of the broadcast. STV apologized for the issues, while BBC Parliament aired the full debate broadcast the next day.

Supported platforms

The website uses Brightcove Flash technology, similar to those used by the services provided by the

and

. It is available on various operating systems, including Windows, Mac and Linux, and multiple web browsers, such as Chrome,

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...

and

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

. An Android app was released on 9 September 2011, and iOS on 22 December 2011. STV Player launched on

in October 2016, and on

Sky UK Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), Trade name, trading as Sky, is a British broadcasting, broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone ...

in November 2019. In December 2020, it was announced that STV Player would be installed on Now TV devices, automatically appear on the home screens for all users. At the same time STV Player becomes available UK wide to Sky Q customers. STV launched UK wide on the

platform in June 2020

References

External links

* {{Navboxes, list1= {{STV Group {{Video digital distribution platforms {{UK Based TV on demand {{Media in the United Kingdom, television {{VOD services 2009 establishments in Scotland 2009 establishments in the United Kingdom Android (operating system) software Archives in Scotland Internet properties established in 2009 Internet television channels iOS software Linux software macOS software Media players Scottish websites STV Group Television websites Video on demand services Windows media players Streaming television in the United Kingdom