To draw a very apposite analogy, YouTube on Android requires sign-in for minor functionality. There's no 'back' button and you can't bookmark videos for later. The UX is deliberately crippled unless you sign in: clicked video by mistake? Good luck getting back to the previous one.
This is a choice they made. It's not beyond the whit of an Android app to store bookmarks locally and sync them when you sign-in. Or to maintain a history for a back button.
The ostensible reason is "so you can have a uniform experience across all devices". The real reason is "so we can use your data to shift ads". We all know this, and it's part of the Google value proposition. It's free because they exploit your data.
The BBC is something different altogether. It's partly non-profit, has no shareholders, funded in a unique way, and, without wishing to seem mawkish, something special. Emulating commercial SV companies leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth. That combined with the privileged place it holds in public life, is not a nice combination.
Maybe Netflix has some nice features. Maybe the BBC can adopt them. But if they really are for _my_ benefit, let me opt in, don't make it compulsory.
If its truly about improving consumer experience its optional. I am not required to login to Chrome or Firefox to use them even though some people find bookmark/history syncing to be useful features.
I’ve sadly seen many many features like this (just watch the industry - who hasn’t?) that are sold under one seemingly positive guise only to be used for another negative one later.
Regardless of public statements on the matter today, I’m really not sure the BBC will resist the temptation longer term to use iPlayer logins as a licence fee enforcement tool among other things, it’s too easy to spin positively as a business decision.
Much of my own unease in all of this is due to the BBC’s odd nature as a kind of hybrid public/private entity. Perhaps the time has come to just let the BBC be a private company and compete directly with Netflix et al, at which point I would care much less about how access is provided. If it is to be a public broadcaster though, I think one of its primary duties should be to be as open as is practical.