Australian pubcaster ABC is joining forces with Samsung Electronics Australia to bring its VOD service ABC iview to a range of internet-enabled televisions and Blu-ray players.

ABC iview will also be launching as a free app for the iPad, giving users access to more than 160 programs from ABC1, ABC2, ABC3 and ABC for KIDS, as well as live streaming of ABC News 24 and iview exclusives. Features developed for the app include bookmarking, as well as support for AirPlay, which allows users to play video over WiFi directly from an iPad to an Apple TV. An ABC iview app for the iPhone is in development for 2011.

ABC iview will hit Samsung’s IPTV service early next year, providing access to the full range of ABC iview content from all Samsung televisions and Blu-ray players that offer Samsung Apps via Samsung’s Internet@TV service.

The push for extending ABC iview’s content platform comes as usage for the service has more than doubled since the beginning of the year, with the average monthly unique browsers this year increasing to 595,000 (235,000 last year) and visits increasing from 708,000 to two million.