Sony and Microsoft Wanted to Control BBC iPlayer Claim

Darren Waters over at the BBC has announced to the world that "Wii becomes home of online video". Not only that but, Darren also tells us that, "According to the Beeb's Erik Huggers it's because Sony and Microsoft wanted to 'control' the iPlayer."

Now for that headline about the Wii becoming the home of online video - the fact is that it's the console home of the BBC's iPlayer; it's probably still a safe bet to say that Youtube, available on the Wii and PS3's browsers, would be considered the home of online video.

Retaining his BBC hat, the writer then tells us:

"Reading between the lines it would seem Microsoft was unwilling to work with the BBC unless it was given more control over how the content was accessed and presented inside Xbox Live, its walled garden online service.

"It seems more puzzling for Sony to take this approach. It has said often that PS3 is an "open platform" and all it would take is a small update to let gamers access iPlayer in the web browser. "

At SPOnG, we'd like to see the reference for 'It has been said often that PS3 is an 'open platform' - by which we mean that we'd like to have seen it referenced in the BBC story.

Waters also feels the need to state that, "I may work for the BBC but I have no inside knowledge on the iPlayer. I don't work with the team, don't know them and I'm speculating as a journalist with the same kind of interest in online video as many of you have."

The headline does not strike true as 'speculating as a journalist' but rather more as 'making a statement'. That said, Microsoft has been slow to seal its deal with BT Vision for the IPTV service promised for 'the middle of 2008' (see SPOnG's report here).

The fact that the PS3 browser won't load the necessary (and apparently Flash-based) add-ons to run iPlayer does seem a little churlish but not the end of the world for PS3 users.

^{Source: BBC}