BBC iPlayer for The Xbox 360 delayed launched

According to news sources, BBC Future Media and Technology department,The agreement is not reached for XBox Live content pltaform incompatible with the BBC’s public service.

One of the services that a lot of Microsoft Xbox 360 owners in the UK would like to see on the platform is the BBC’s free iPlayer which lets you watch a range of BBC programmes for free. The BBC want the iPlayer to be available for free to all Xbox users whether they have a silver or gold Xbox live subscription, where as Microsoft only want the service to be available to Xbox Live Gold users and they want to charge for it, a source at the BBC had the following to say about it

According to the source, “Microsoft only wants to offer its users access to platforms it can charge for as this is the model it is pursuing. It wants to ensure that only those paying for Xbox Live Gold accounts can access its additional content services and even then there is usually a charge on top to get access to those. For example, to access the Sky Player on Xbox, you have to pay for a Gold subscription as well as a Sky subscription,”

“This does not fit with the BBC’s model and Microsoft will not budge at the moment. It is really frustrating for those involved on the BBC side who want to make sure iPlayer is rolled out on as many popular entertainment platforms as possible,”

This situation is a marked contrast to the deals the BBC already has in place with the other two home games consoles. Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 both offer free access to the BBC iPlayer. Earlier this month the BBC recently relaunched its service on the Wii and now offers its own dedicated iPlayer channel.

This is bad news for Xbox Live users in UK. The delay in striking a deal with the BBC could harm Microsoft’s ambitions to make its Xbox 360 console become the centre of the home entertainment.

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Tags: console, gaming