The BFBS MiPlayer was designed and built in-house at BFBS as a platform to deliver entertainment and media for UK personnel based in remote regions of the world …it's come a long way in 10 years…
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January 2016
The Launch
The first basic MiPlayer - called ‘The BFBS Player Remote Server’ - was deployed to HMS Iron Duke with 10 TV channels and six radio stations.
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June-October 2017
MiPlayer Name is Born… and Exhibited
The BFBS MiPlayer was officially named in June 2017 and exhibited at DSEI.
By October it was demonstrated live at PJHQ to a 2* audience which led to the first deployments of MiPlayer to South Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia.
That month it also appeared at the Pacific 2017 Maritime Defence Symposium in Sydney Australia.
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November 2017
‘MiPlayer Lite’ Launched…in Nepalese
A collaboration with the Nepalese Government in support of their earthquake-damaged and monsoon-devastated regions led to the first non-MOD and non-English language user interface (UI).
It also included new media formats (e.g. pdf documents and pure html) to include content from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nepal.
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2018
New Additions and a New User Interface
Digital daily newspapers and magazines were launched onto the MiPlayer at sea and on ops.
The platform was now on Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships at sea and was being used on land in Afghanistan, Poland and Estonia – the user interface also had a refresh.
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Early 2018
MiPlayer Deploys to Bahrain
MiPlayer is present across UKNSF accommodation delivering content to Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs) and TVs – the latter via the then new MiPlayer set top box (STB).
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2020
MiPlayer in the Falklands as a Public service
MiPlayer becomes a service to the Falkland Islands Government (FIG), delivered over the local broadband network, without requiring or using any internet capacity.
It’s available anywhere in the islands providing live streaming and catchup television and radio including local channels, Falkland Islands Television (FITV) and Falklands Radio, plus UK public service channels.
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2020
Digital Print Takes Off
Although there were some military publications on MiPlayer more or less from day one, a range of daily newspapers and civilian magazines were introduced during lockdown in 2020. This landed very positively, resulting in requests for more.
Today, under the banner of ‘Newsstand’ we provide an extensive range of titles covering many interests, and some commands pay for extra titles to be added above and beyond the BFBS baseline package.
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May 2023
MiPlayer Edge x OneWeb
At BFBS’ 80th anniversary event, a development partnership was announced between MiPlayer Edge and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite company, Eutelsat OneWeb to deliver enhanced media services to the most remote locations...and the user interface had a new-look black background.
MiPlayer Edge is designed to work with any LEO satellite service such as Starlink or Amazon Kuiper as well as Oneweb.
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2025-2026
New Content Rails and Messaging Features
Forces Shorts and Inside Military Sport on-demand videos from BFBS Forces News were added in a dedicated zone.
MiPlayer now has 12 BFBS TV channels, including UK public service, news, Nepali language, and exclusively compiled premium movies, series, and live sport, complimented by 2000+ hours of curated on-demand content available at any time, for free without using the internet.
And in addition to the Newsstand publications, the platform offers live radio, and a catalogue of audio podcasts, specials, and wellbeing resources.
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2026 and Beyond
MiPlayer Under the Sea
The BFBS MiPlayer is now available for submarines…yes, submarines!
With the Royal Navy integration and approval process underway for current boats, and MiPlayer already designed into future platforms, it will be available for sub-surface as soon as possible.
MiPlayer will also be on the new Type 26 and Type 31 frigates.