[W. Knight]

Turns out iPlayer was tried internationally a decade ago (as an iPad app - the Apple product connections!), but failed:

The BBC has offered subscriptions to an international version of its iPlayer streaming service since 2011, but in the next month or so it will close its doors. In case you're wondering why you've never heard of the iPlayer Global service, that's because despite being offered in 16 countries (including Canada), the service never came to the US and stopped expanding back in 2013.

From www.engadget.com 

It was shut down while the BBC Brit/Earth/First trio was set to replace BBC Entertainment/Knowledge, both announced by Tim Davie (!):
www.bbc.co.uk 

Its replacement at the time? The 'new-and-improved' BBC.com. Funny how things had changed from having a 'do-all' website to a dedicated streaming service for VOD.

Additionally, BBC.com, the international version of the BBC’s online site, will be transformed over the next three years, supporting the BBC’s recently stated goal of doubling global reach from 250m to 500m per week by 2022. This transformation will see a greater focus on video content, bringing together all BBC commercial online offerings in one destination. The new BBC.com will include a long-form video player and will represent a single digital route to market for BBC.com’s partners and advertisers.

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I think the situation in Canada is even more of an odd construct. It was rebranded as BBC First in 2021 and shows mainly BBC produced programmes, but is wholly owned by Blue Ant Media who licence the brand from the BBC.

Perhaps there are more Anglophiles in Canada with an appetite for Brit-stuff than in the USA.

Picking up from here, that's not the only BBC-branded channel there: BBC Kids apparently was a thing as well between BBC Worldwide and Alliance Atlantis (later Knowledge Network).
youtu.be 

To make things even weirder, they had a teenage block named BBCK!
youtu.be