BBC uses Adobe Air to replace Flash on Android
updated 04:32 pm EDT, Wed September 19, 2012
Media Player app launches video on website, iPlayer
The BBC is rolling out a way to help it's Android apps to function without Flash, by using Flash. A custom app called BBC Media Player (Google Play) will allow British users to watch and listen to BBC on-demand content from their mobile device, even when Adobe pulls Flash from Android for the second, and potentially final, time.
Flash Player was originally pulled from Google Play in mid-August. The BBC's use of the format forced Adobe to return it for users in the UK, otherwise the iPlayer app and other content would cease to work for those without it installed. As the BBC required a solution that could work on older and newer iterations of Android, worked with both native apps and the BBC websites, cost as little as possible, and met the DRM obligations the corporation has made with rights holders, it turned out that Flash is still the best choice. A separate application using Adobe Air now launches when videos on the website or the iPlayer are opened, disrupting users as little as possible.
A reworked version of the BBC iPlayer(Google Play) is hoped to be ready by next week, incorporating the BBC Media Player functionality. It still offers video content through HTML5 players for compatible browsers [via BBC Internet Blog
