According to the UK’s Daily Telegraph, the BBC and Microsoft have “indefinitely” postponed their plans to launch the iPlayer on the Xbox Live platform. The newspaper alleges that the cause was a disagreement over Microsoft’s strategy to enable access to the iPlayer only to its premium subscribers, which would be incompatible with the BBC’s public remit.

The BBC iPlayer is available on more than 20 devices, including games consoles such as the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii, as well as PC and mobile phones. It is also available to Virgin Media’s subscribers.

BBC’s strategy to make the iPlayer available through as many platforms as possible is controversial, with pay-TV providers such as BSkyB complaining of unfair competition from the public service broadcaster. The service is, however, popular with consumers, receiving an average of 75 million requests a month. It has received more than 900 thousand requests through the Nintendo Wii since April 2008 and 100 million views in its first year of partnership with Virgin Media.  

Despite the postponement of iPlayer on the Xbox, multi-platform free catch-up TV has taken hold in the UK and will continue to challenge traditional pay-TV operator business models. High-audience genres such as live sports are not commonly available for free ‘over-the-top’, but the increasing availability of free, popular catch-up content makes basic pay-TV offers less attractive. While the penetration of game consoles is limited, hybrid free-to-air and OTT set-top-boxes will pose an even greater threat to pay-TV operators.