The Microsoft Money Machine - BBC Says NO!

WeasteDevil

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Gaming - News - Xbox 360 iPlayer launch postponed - Digital Spy

The BBC iPlayer's arrival on Xbox Live has been postponed after Microsoft failed to determine a service agreement with the broadcaster.

According to The Daily Telegraph, the two firms are locked in stalemate as the BBC insists that the service should be free, while Microsoft traditionally charges for additional content.

"Microsoft only wants to offer its users access to platforms it can charge for as this is the model it is pursuing," explained a BBC source.

"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."

The BBC is unable to charge for iPlayer because it is already covered by TV licence fees. The service is currently available for PS3 and Nintendo Wii.
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Xbox 360 iPlayer launch delayed indefinitely - Telegraph

According to sources close to the BBC’s Future Media and Technology department, a deal between the two parties has still been unable to be reached because Microsoft’s strategy of charging for all content on its Xbox Live platform is incompatible with the BBC’s public service remit.

“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,” explained one of the sources close to the BBC.

“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,” they added.

The BBC cannot charge the British public for access to the iPlayer as it is already included in the licence fee

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.

A BBC spokesman said: “BBC iPlayer has been extremely successful on PS3 and we recently re-launched on Nintendo Wii, from which the public response has been fantastic. People clearly want the BBC iPlayer on their gaming consoles, and we don’t think Xbox users are any different, so we’ve had discussions with Microsoft about bringing the service to the platform.”

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.
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It's quite fecking incredible when you think about it. It seems that if you do not pay Microsoft the console can hardly connect to the Internet at all, and I'm glad that the BBC have told them to shove it up their arse. I suppose that the BBC have even redone the iPlayer in Silverlight just for them. Money grabbing cnuts.
 
It seems to me to be very stupid on their behalf. Here they have a public service broadcaster giving them a feature for free, yet they don't want it unless they can charge for it? How bizarre is that?
 
has anyone tried the iplayer on the wii? im hopefully setting my mums wii up on there over xmas & curious as to the quality of the service
 
WeasteDevil said:
Do you have broadcasters providing catch up TV services on demand in your country? On my PS3 I have, TVE, Antenna 3, and La Sexta.
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The internet i think is the only place, but i own a 360 so chances are everyone with a PS3 has been enjoying this for years and ive got no idea.
 
I'm not being funny but Sky Player on the Xbox Live is free. Of course you have to pay for a Sky subscription to watch it, just like on regular Sky Player. The stuff that needs to be paid for on it needs to be paid for on the regular one too.
And they've been charging for Live Gold since day one (which no one has any major problems with) so it's only right that the people paying the money get the additional stuff. If it was on top of that then there would be a problem but it isn't.
 
The Flying Potato said:
Did you read it? They say that there could well be a charge on top which is what makes them cnuts
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Yeah but there won't be, that's bullshit to get people worked up. They don't charge for Sky Player so they aren't going to charge for iPlayer.
 
VivaVII said:
Yeah but there won't be, that's bullshit to get people worked up. They don't charge for Sky Player so they aren't going to charge for iPlayer.
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Yes.. but its different. If you want Sky, you have to pay for it either way, where as the iPlayer is free normally, so paying anything for it would be an addition.
 
1871_Biscuit said:
Yes.. but its different. If you want Sky, you have to pay for it either way, where as the iPlayer is free normally, so paying anything for it would be an addition.
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You have to pay the yearly subscription fee for xbox live gold. If people are using the iplayer as another way to complain a bout the yearly fee they should just buy a playstation and not care anymore.
 
1871_Biscuit said:
Yes.. but its different. If you want Sky, you have to pay for it either way, where as the iPlayer is free normally, so paying anything for it would be an addition.
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If you want Sky, you pay Sky for a subscription, not Microsoft. The iPlayer will be free. You're paying for Gold membership and as such should get extra material. It's not like people are going to buy a Gold subscription just so they can watch iPlayer. Having iPlayer will just be a nice addition for the people who are already Gold members (teehee).
 
But if you've paid for a tv license you shouldn't need to pay anything on top of that, not even gold membership. If it was available only to gold subscribers it would effectively become part of that package and you would be paying something on top of your tv license.

I doubt the BBC could agree to it even if they wanted too.
 
Ixion said:
But if you've paid for a tv license you shouldn't need to pay anything on top of that, not even gold membership. If it was available only to gold subscribers it would effectively become part of that package and you would be paying something on top of your tv license.

I doubt the BBC could agree to it even if they wanted too.
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They can't, and rightly so.
 
I'm glad BBC told them to do one, fair play to them. We all know how much of a money grabbing cnut Microsoft are so this doesn't really surprise me.
 
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