Deep down, I knew this was going to happen. Rumours had been swirling for weeks that BBC iPlayer wouldn’t be working at full capacity on the Xbox 360’s new TV service. But the official confirmation that the service won’t land on Microsoft’s console until ‘early 2012’ is nothing short of infuriating. I’m sure that when it does launch, it’ll work like a dream. But the fact is we’ve been waiting far too long for this to happen. Microsoft needs to buck its ideas up if it wants to prove that it’s capable of offering a service to rival the PS3, Boxee Box, Apple TV and even the Nintendo Wii.
It’s hard to swallow this latest delay when you consider that the Wii, a console hardly renowned for its multimedia capabilities, has had iPlayer since early 2008. The PS3’s excellent iPlayer app has been official since the end of the same year, even though unofficial proxy sites were serving up the best of the BBC on Sony’s home hub for a long time before that.
In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Xbox 360 was just about the only mainstream media-connected gadget in the world without iPlayer support. Phones, tablets and PMPs have had the service for years. It makes this delay even more infuriating. I’m not one to complain too strongly about paying for Xbox Live, it’s a service I enjoy and use a lot. But evidently this delay comes down to Microsoft’s intransigence over the fact that it can’t charge for access to BBC services, seeing as we already pay heftily for them via the licence fee.
Surely there’s a way around this? I can see why the Big M might fear that it would lead to a two tier service, with some choosing only to use iPlayer rather than access Xbox Live Gold content that you have to pay to access. But let’s face it, if you use your console to stream media, you’re more likely to be given over to paying for content. Call me naive, but sticking on BBC iPlayer now isn’t going to lose Microsoft much money.
On a wider note, the Xbox Live TV package looks worryingly thin for UK users, and not just because of iPlayer’s failure to materialise. The fact 4OD and Blinkbox won’t be available at launch, with only Lovefilm up for grabs, is shocking. It all feels very half-arsed. The importance of having a fully-fledged service from day one cannot be overestimated.
Microsoft will point to the fact that it’s working towards having a proper TV offering ready by early 2012. But frankly, the excuses are wearing thin. It’s taken almost four years for iPlayer to hit the Xbox 360, and that’s just not good enough. Users are being short-changed and you can see why many would be tempted to switch systems. Media services are now every bit as vital as the games that consoles play. Sony knows this. It seems Microsoft has some way to go to realise their vitality.
