The BBC has announced that, for the first time, it will be bringing its BBC iPlayer to the new Apple TV.

The new Apple TV is now available for pre-order and the BBC has tweeted that it will be able to offer iPlayer support.

Until now Apple has offered iPlayer in app form on iPhones and iPad but not its Apple TV.

The tweet from the BBC doesn't reveal exactly when the app will arrive on Apple TV, simply saying it will be here in the coming months.

The new Apple TV is expected to appear in stores and start arriving for early pre-orders from 30 October. So the BBC iPlayer app will obviously not be available at launch, based on this tweet.

So why has the BBC decided to get onboard with Apple TV now? Firstly the new player follows Apple's decision to open up app support inside its operating system, tvOS. This allows developers to create new software for Apple TV or extend apps from iPhone and iPad.

The other possible reason for this appearance is that the BBC has announced it will be launching a US service next year. This will deliver access to content in the US that would otherwise be unavailable.

The BBC hasn't revealed if the iPlayer app will also be coming to older versions of Apple TV at this stage.

READ: New Apple TV: When and where can you buy it?