STV Player


STV Player is an online video on demand service accessible through the main STV website as well as being available on a variety of smartphones, tablets, consoles, set top boxes and Smart TVs. Current programmes are available for 30 days after transmission on the main STV channel, with archive programming available longer-term. The service was established to hold full programming and "long-form" content, separate from the existing STV Video site, which would then be rebuilt to hold "short-form" content, news, weather and clips.
Most STV primetime, and some daytime, shows are available on the website; however, some sports, movies, imported programming and network programmes with copyright issues are not.

Programming

The STV Player is intended to combine network programming shown by STV, such as Emmerdale, Coronation Street and The Jeremy Kyle Show, plus regional programming, such as Made in Scotland, Scotland Tonight and STV Rugby, and archive STV programming, like The Steamie, Take The High Road and High Times, in a separate site from other, "short-form" videos.
In general, programmes are available in their entirety, but in some cases, STV does not have the right to broadcast all the content online; in these instances, the segments of the show which are not subject to these rights issues are loaded onto STV Player, with the un-cleared segments excluded.
In November 2018, as part of an advertising-sales partnership with STV, Eleven Sports sub-licensed selected La Liga and Serie A matches for streaming within Scotland.

Capacity issues

In April 2014, STV Player experienced downtime during its broadcast of —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, while STV's network ITV did not choose to pick up the live airing of the debate across the rest of the UK, leading to higher-than-anticipated demand for the internet stream. STV apologized for the capacity problems, 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 BBC and Channel 4. It is available on various operating systems, including Windows, Mac and Linux, and multiple internet browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, AOL and Safari.
An Android app was released on 9 September 2011, and iOS on 22 December 2011. In April 2013 STV Player was released on Windows Store for Windows 8.
In October 2016 STV Player launched on Freesat.