[Rdd]

It really has nothing to do with the Good Friday Agreement, the only mention of broadcasting in it at all is a committment by the U.K. to explore the scope for more wider availability of TG4 in NI (which was done, it’s on a Freeview mini-mux, Sky, and cable). The BBC channels have been distributed via cable in ROI since the 1960s and Sky since 2002 or so, as you say it’s a commercial arrangement. The choice of NI as the region was originally purely convenience and up to the introduction of digital TV it was common in the east and south for BBC Wales to be distributed instead. My understanding is that BBC Studios will only license overseas distribution of the BBC domestic channels to countries where they were historically available by overspill to some extent (Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). They are also available in Switzerland for reasons BBC Studios can do nothing about and have to live with (local law provides a defence against copyright infringement for cable companies if channel can be picked up free to air).

There was a short lived “International iPlayer” about ten or more years ago but it’s best to think of it as more a proof of concept for Britbox rather than any extension of the U.K. service and it didn’t last long anyway. The point though is that they had no problem using the name outside the U.K. at that stage.