London - The BBC has authorized the launch of a previously announced service that will allow U.K. residents to watch a selection of its programs online for free for a week following their initial broadcast.

Slated to launch later this year, the iPlayer service will let users stream BBC series like "Doctor Who" and "EastEnders" to their Windows PCs for a week after they premiere, as well as download them and view them for a period of 30 days.

The BBC said these features will apply to only about 15% of all content offered on the iPlayer, adding that support for Mac and other platforms will soon be added.

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