BBC talks iPlayer on PS3

Official solution is "on roadmap"

15 April 2008 9:38 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Anthony Rose, head of digital media technology, future media and technology at the BBC has discussed the unofficial iPlayer on PS3 workaround on his Beeb blog.

Following the launch of the iPlayer for the Nintendo Wii, a disgruntled PS3-owning programmer created a way of letting owners of Sony's next-gen console access the iPlayer too.

Rose states: "As you know, our aim is to make BBC iPlayer available on a broad range of devices. We'd love to be on every popular device tomorrow, including the PS3, and it was on our roadmap".

Contrary to other recent BBC-based reports that suggested the Wii was the first to get the service as Sony and Microsoft were demanding too much control, Rose insists it is down to resources:

"The reality is that we only have finite developer resources, and we need to divide our development time between expanding the platforms iPlayer is available on versus all the other cool things that we're working on (better video quality, personalisation, new site features, etc)."

But, PS3 owners will be happy to note that Rose says: "We're investigating the optimal video profile and browser proposition to enable us to officially make iPlayer available on PS3 in due course".