Microsoft says Sky Player is fixed

By Tom Bramwell Published 9 November, 2009

Should be available to everyone now.

Microsoft reckons Sky Player should now be available to every Xbox 360 owner in the UK.

"As you may know we have been implementing a gradual rollout of the Sky Player on Xbox 360 service since our initial launch," a statement issued late last week explained, following the decision to suspend the service when it launched in late October after it was crippled by unexpected demand on day one.

"As of today, 100 per cent of the Xbox base can access Sky Player, and tens of thousands of new users are accessing the service daily," it continued.

"The quality of the service remains of the utmost importance to both Sky and Xbox, and as such we will run further testing over the weekend and continue to monitor the service closely."

Sky Player allows Xbox 360 owners to watch Sky television, including movie channels and Premier League football on Sky Sports, for a fee over and above their Xbox Live Gold subscription.

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Wolverfrog #1 2 years ago

    Doesn't stop it from still being overpriced. They should make standard freeview channels (BBC One, ITV2, etc etc) free at the least.

  • Wolverfrog #2 2 years ago

    Well Microsoft should negotiate to get BBC iPlayer, ITV player, and all the rest as applications for the 360.

    I want to watch my Coronation Street dammit!

    ;)

  • Zomoniac #3 2 years ago

    Fixed? All I see is 2 channels or the option to be billed a minimum of £15 a month for little more than freeview channels. Perhaps they should work on fixing the real issue.

  • sadakos_fury #4 2 years ago

    I already have sky so this is pretty handy for catching up on movies I've missed, whenever I want to. The other sections though - total bewildering mess. Some things are free, most are pay per view, others are just unavailable. I have the documentary pack in my subscription but most of the stuff on here you have to pay extra for. Why exactly is that, Mr Sky?

  • Slim #5 2 years ago

    Agreed, it's rubbish. Iplayer instead please!

  • markymark22 #6 2 years ago

    Pardon my ignorance here lads but before ps3 had bbci player you could use the consoles internet browser to use bbc i player anyways!
    Can the same not be done with the 360 without having to re subscribe cause i can watch sky on the net with my laptop as i'm already a subscriber. I dont have my ps3 connected to psn so i cant test this!

  • Retroid #7 2 years ago

    New server online? (Sky went out and picked up another 386 from a skip)

    The channels available at the prices they're available at are pretty much identical to Sky's existing online-only offerings, sadly. They don't offer Freeview channels because those other channels mostly have their own onlines services.

  • Retroid #8 2 years ago

    Have to add that I love the On Demand stuff and the interface itself. It's very snazzy and ultra-quick to find what you want.

    Only problem with all of that is I can only think of how blindingly fantastic iPlayer would be with a similar interface! Christ I hope they do that...

  • Retroid #9 2 years ago

    markymark22: "Can the same not be done with the 360 without having to re subscribe cause i can watch sky on the net with my laptop as i'm already a subscriber. I dont have my ps3 connected to psn so i cant test this!"

    The SkyPlayer website uses Silverlight so it won't work on the PS3 browser.

    As for using this without having to resubscribe, good news: you can link it to an existing Sky account, and if you're on Sky BB Unlimited or have Multiroom then you can watch all the supported channels for free! I'm on Sky BB Unlimited so I get the whole thing for nothing extra.

  • SleepyDeathFred #10 2 years ago

    Pretty sure they refused to do iPlayer because the BBC weren't happy with Microsoft's propensity to charge for everything.

  • Iain815 #11 2 years ago

    It'd be great if there was actually something worth watching on demand.

  • Moribundman #12 2 years ago

    This really doesn't stop this service being 1) shit 2) an absolute rip off and 3) tied into Rupert Murdoch's empire of turds.

    Hmmm let's see what he's done to annoy me so far:

    * Fox News
    * The Sun
    * Cancelling Family Guy and Futurama (as well as a slew of other really good shows)
    * The propagation of reality TV (especially that involving Simon Cowell)
    * Trying to find a way of making people PAY to access news (and his papers) online like some half-arsed AOL
    * Trying to find a way of making Xbox users pay MORE for Sky than ordinary Sky subscribers for a WORSE service

    And involvement with the Star Wars prequels by association.

  • Moribundman #13 2 years ago

    Honest to God? I would not be seen dead associating myself with Sky. The only thing its remotely useful for is Footie. And I'm not that into footie. If I want to see a match I'll go down the pub like a sociable person.

    Exclusive programming? All either crap or available when broadcast in the US via US TV websites (and Hotspot Shield), DVD or... Other means. Screw Sky.

  • HoriZon #14 2 years ago

    Just a shame there is nothing good to watch on it Sky1 at last should have SG:U, House, Fringe, Lost etc on it but alas all it has is game shows and factual shows with Ross Kemp :/

  • sneetch #15 2 years ago

    @Wolverfrog
    Doesn't stop it from still being overpriced. They should make standard freeview channels (BBC One, ITV2, etc etc) free at the least.

    And who would pay the hosting costs for that I wonder? :)

    Well Microsoft should negotiate to get BBC iPlayer, ITV player, and all the rest as applications for the 360.

    A good idea, aren't they mostly just flash (I can't use BBCs iPlayer where I am so I don't know)? A flash player for Xbox would allow them to do that with relative ease. Mind you MS like their money for these things, but they could just sell the player on XBL for a "reasonable" fee.

  • Retroid #16 2 years ago

    The pricing is Sky. It's the same as getting a website-only subscription.

    Iain815: "It'd be great if there was actually something worth watching on demand."

    I'd say there's probably something worth watching out of ~400 movies.

  • icematt12 #17 2 years ago

    Well, I believe Sky owns a decent share of ITV. I can see itvPlayer, or w/e the name is, appearing on 360 at some point. Maybe not iPlayer though, dependant on the willingness of BBC and the existing contract with Sony. Exclusivity?

    I think Sky1 is only showing programs which they have financed and own the rights to at the moment. Most of the good stuff seems to be brought across the Atlantic. I would like them to be able to show more shows now its at 100%, people are paying for the full service yet are getting minimal content.

  • Apostle #18 2 years ago

    For me, one of the best things that's happened on Xbox, ever. This is very convenient they way we have Sky set up in our home.

  • Arwin #19 2 years ago

    I would think that it would be against the law for the BBC to do an exclusive deal with Sony. Besides, can't you also watch iPlayer on the Nintendo Wii?

  • Kornicos #20 2 years ago

    we need a netflix service here. €8 for a choice of 10,000 on demand shows/movies. €35 euro for a choice of 400 movies on sky is sh1t.

  • mongbomb #21 2 years ago

    when the sky player originally launched on the 27th october the sky one on demand had much more content, it did include shows like prison break, 24, house etc... Where has it gone now? nobody wants to watch uk border police or whatever the F it is called!

    ...and if there is a link on the sky player website to BBC shows why can't they be reflected in te xbox sky player?