iPlayer is coming to Sky for the first time. To make sure everyone can catch up on BBC shows such as Doctor Who and Sherlock, Sky is opening up Sky Anytime+ -- its on-demand service you watch via your Sky box -- to any Sky viewer, not just those on its broadband package.
ITV Player also arrives on Anytime+ this week. Popular ITV shows such as Prime Suspect, Lewis and Cold Feet will be available to watch from tomorrow. Other ITV series, including Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and popular BBC shows like Top Gear, Hustle and Outnumbered will follow later this year.
The stumbling block for a deal between Sky and the BBC has been that Auntie wants its services as openly available as possible -- we've already paid for it, after all, with the licence fee.
So Sky has opened up Sky Anytime+ to all its customers, not just those who have Sky broadband. You still need to be a Sky customer, but if you want iPlayer on your TV through your Sky box, you can stick with the best value Internet service provider for your needs and you won't be forced to switch to Sky broadband.
That means you'll be able to catch up with the latest BBC and ITV shows without having to pay any extra fee over and above your current Sky package.
iPlayer has exploded in the last year, with record numbers of programmes being watched and listened to online, on mobile phones and on the iPad.
Auntie Beeb and Cousin Sky reckon iPlayer will arrive for the first time on up to 5 million Sky TVs this year. iPlayer is now available on Virgin Media, BT Vision, freesat, Freeview, the Sony PlayStation and Nintendo Wii, and many smart TVs. The BBC recently added the BBC Red Button service to Virgin Media TiVo too.
Is the arrival of iPlayer and ITV on Sky a big deal for you? Which programmes are you most looking forward to watching? Tell us in the comments or change the channel to our Facebook page.
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Comments 7
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iam a wp7 30 January, 2012 13:39
Great news about iPlayer. Don't think many people actually care about ITV Player.
anonymous 30 January, 2012 14:22
This article says " The BBC recently added the BBC Red Button service to Virgin Media TiVo too " That is wrong it is not TiVo yet. It launches on TiVo this quarter.
Rich Trenholm 31 January, 2012 16:44
We could have made that clearer perhaps, but not wrong exactly - the BBC has announced the service
anonymous 3 February, 2012 03:27
BBC iplayer and ITV Player is good but no big deal as it is available on so many other devices. However making Anytime+ available to non Sky broadband subscribers is excellent news. Many people (like me) have wanted Anytime+ but not been able to get it because it has only been available to Sky broadband subscribers and Sky boadband has not been an option - Sky Broadbandd 1Mbps my fibre connection 110Mbps. This together with the announcement Sky will finally make Sky Go available on Android this month (hopefully) shows sky are finally making their products available to all their loyal customers.
anonymous 19 March, 2012 19:30
does anyone have a date when this will actually happen. I have sky and BT infinity, at the moment i can only see sky anytime, anytime + is still not available to non sky broadband customers as far as i can see.
anonymous 20 March, 2012 08:41
Spoke to a sky advisor last friday about updating my package as F1 was starting at the wk'nd, whilst on the phone I asked them about the sky anytime +, did I have to be a broadband subscriber with themselves, his reply was that it is being made available to all sky customers with or without subscribing to sky broadband as soon as this week!!! So keep an eye out.
anonymous 20 March, 2012 10:26
I called Sky last week regarding this and they said it should be available from today - But still asked me to register my interest here:
https://discoversky.sky.com/anytimeplus/Default.aspx
Will plug my box into the router this evening and give it a whirl. Fingers crossed!