UPDATE: Microsoft Xbox 360 to get BBC iPlayer in 2012
Update 05.12.11
Microsoft has confirmed its Xbox 360 will get BBC iPlayer next year as the firm attempts to make the device more of an all-round entertainment hub like Sony's PS3.
A major update will begin rolling out to Xbox 360 consoles around the world from tomorrow, December 6th.
But while the update will also bring the new 'Metro' interface, plus Kinect voice control integrated with Microsoft's Bing search engine, owners will have to wait longer for the hugely popular BBC iPlayer.
Around 40 media companies have been signed up to bring both live and on-demand movie and TV content to the console. In the UK, LoveFilm will be available through the Xbox 360 from December 6th.
Later in the month it will be joined by other on-demand services including 4OD, Demand 5, Blinkbox, Muzu.TV and Sony's Crackle. The iPlayer will be available via an Xbox Live app from early 2012.
Published 06.10.11
Xbox 360 owners will be able to view a string of on-demand and streaming services from the likes of the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5 and film rental service Blinkbox and Lovefilm this Christmas.
Microsoft has done deals with 40 television and video-on-demand companies to bring a range of entertainment services to Xbox Live.
Users will be able to search much of the content via Microsoft's Bing engine, and in some cases it will be possible to use voice commands to find films and TV shows using the Kinect device.
However, it's not yet clear if BBC programmes will be supplied via an Xbox version of iPlayer.
"Combining the world's leading TV and entertainment providers with the power of Kinect for Xbox 360 and the intelligence of Bing voice search will make TV and entertainment more personal, social and effortless," says Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment at Microsoft.
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Comments
4OD and 5 On Demand have now been added and work well
Apple TV never had BBC iplayer Armourtillo. I'm pretty sure the people at microsoft were unsure which direction to take the Xbox, things like adding other film and music streaming providers would have a knock on affect to there Zune services, and now they have taken the plunge to add others.
Not only BBC iplayer is coming to the Xbox , NETFLIX is due very soon and i know i've seen other stuff being advertised on either the xbox website or on the actual xbox
It's a shame that iplayer is over 2 years late on the 360. Even my freesat box got iplayer nearly 2 years ago and that must have been considerably harder to develop for. Poor show Microsoft.
No problem Andy, happy to help.
My mistake, thanks for the clarification. I've been looking for confirmation on this for some time.
Quote from the BBC's own website: "The BBC iPlayer will be added to the Xbox in 2012 as Microsoft tries to centre its console on entertainment rather than just games."
I don't believe the article is strictly true; as I understand it BBC content has been confirmed but BBC iPlayer has not.
At the moment you cannot rent computer games through your PS3 and their lovefilm app - it'd be great if this changed. On my lovefilm subscription I'm able to rent any game, so why not download a game to your PS3/Xbox rather than rent the disk?
No, Xbox Live Free (previously known as Silver) allows you to do a lot of things online such as download games and stream movies - see here for the main differences between this and Gold (i.e. paid) membership.
Without a Blu-ray drive, the Xbox was always going to struggle to play Blu-ray discs. As noted above though, you can at least download HD movies from the Zune service.
Am i right in thinking that you still have to pay a subsrciption to use the internet with the Xbox?
Does the Xbox play blu ray movies yet?
"Tut tut" microsoft!
What a result. the reasons for buying apple tv are getting less and less.