ISPs urge BBC to help fund broadband network improvements

Internet service providers (ISPs) have called on the BBC to provide financial assistance as they strive to meet surging demand for iPlayer.

The on-demand TV service, which has seen 42 million programmes downloaded in the first three months, has put ISPs under pressure due to the heavy bandwidth it requires.

Tiscali's Simon Gunter argued that the BBC should contribute towards the costs of installing high-speed fibre optics to upgrade networks.

He said: "The question is about whether we invest in extra capacity or go to the consumer and ask them to pay a BBC tax".

This position has subsequently supported by Virgin Media chief executive Neil Berkett.

However, Ashley Highfield, head of future media and technology at the corporation, warned in his blog: "Content providers, if they find their content being specifically squeezed, shaped, or capped, could start to indicate on their sites which ISPs their content works best on (and which to avoid)."

Research from Ofcom has suggested ISPs will need to invest around £830m to increase capacity and meet demand for services such as iPlayer.