The latest version of the BBC iPlayer, now in beta testing, includes links with Facebook and Twitter to allow users to share content via the social networking sites.
It also includes direct links to the video-on-demand players of commercial rivals, including ITV, Channel Four and Five.
The tie-up with Facebook and Twitter, which will allow users to recommend programming to their friends as long as they log into the BBC website first, forms part of a strategy to make the service more social.
Users will have to sign up to the BBC's own website ID service, already used for posting comments on the site, so that the corporation can maintain a “complete social eco-system” with iPlayer users.
The new version of the iPlayer will also see the channel icons of rival nroadcasters appear in the online EPG (electronic programme guide) alongside the BBC's own TV services.
Deals have been struck with the ITV Player, 4oD, Five on Demand, S4C's Clic and the VoD aggregation service SeeSaw.