New Doctor Who to hit iView immediately after UK airing

Season seven of the cult show will be available on ABC's catch-up TV service "within hours" of being shown on the BBC.

The ABC has announced, via its official TV blog, that the first episode of the next season of Doctor Who — titled "Asylum of the Daleks" — will be available on its iView service from Sunday, 2 September at 5.10am AEST, immediately after it has aired on the BBC in the UK.

The ABC has previously shown Doctor Who on iView before it was broadcast on more traditional channels, but this is the first time that the iView content will be available so close to the original UK airing. "Asylum of the Daleks" won't air on ABC 1 until Saturday, 8 September at 7.30pm AEST.

According to ABC1 Controller Brendan Dahill, each new episode will be available on iView on Sundays "within hours of them premiering in the UK". According to Dahill, 48 per cent of Australians over 16 have accessed iView, while the most recent iOS iView app has been downloaded 434,000 times.

Whether the timeliness of the releases will mitigate iView's SD-quality video, or whether viewers will wait for the broadcast versions (or find alternative methods of viewing HD episodes) remains to be seen.

You can view the season seven trailer below: