BBC: 'Wii beat Xbox and PS3 to iPlayer'

The BBC's head of Future Media and Technology Erik Huggers has revealed both Microsoft and Sony wanted to sign the iPlayer for their consoles, but the deals fell through after they made too many demands.

Writing on the BBC website, Huggers commented: "If you want to get [iPlayer] on the PlayStation or Xbox, they want control of the look, the feel and the experience; they want it done within their shop, and their shop only."

Darren Waters, the BBC's technology editor, said that, following this morning's midnight launch of the iPlayer on Wii, the Nintendo console is now the only games system to offer the multimedia functionality that Sony and Microsoft have always wanted.

“How ironic that it is the Nintendo Wii, and not the PlayStation 3 nor Xbox 360, that becomes the first of the current generation of consoles to have a truly dynamic range of online video content,” said Waters on his blog.

“The BBC's announcement of a deal with Nintendo to put the iPlayer's streaming service on the console makes something of a mockery of claims by Sony and Microsoft that their consoles are the true multimedia machines.”