BBC: We'd still love to have iPlayer on Xbox

BBC's brand new iPlayer on PS3, but not Xbox

The BBC's Daniel Danker has told TechRadar that he would love to see the iPlayer finally making it onto the Xbox 360.

Danker, general manager for programmes and on demand, was speaking as the BBC rolled out the brand new HTML 5 iPlayer which will make its debut on the Sony PlayStation 3.

The iPlayer has been a huge hit as a feature on the PS3 – providing 6 million programme views, second only to Virgin Media's offering in terms of set top box iPlayer views.

No agreement

Despite this, no agreement has been found between Microsoft and the BBC to put the iPlayer on the Xbox 360, with suggestions that restrictions on changing the look and feel, and the desire to make it available only to paid subscribers have stalled talks.

"I don't know that you're talking about," joked Danker, when TechRadar asked if it was frustrating to not be on all games console.

Love to be

"We want to be on as many devices as possible. Of course we'd love to be on the Xbox because we want to get the iPlayer to as many licence payers as possible, which is pretty much everyone in the UK.

"We want to be on the cheapest level that you can have on Xbox, and not only for [Xbox Live] Gold subscribers."

The BBC's latest iPlayer for Smart TVs and set top boxes offers an overhauled user interface and is designed to bring iPlayer use into the mass market.

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content. After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.

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