Sky Player, Sky's online TV service, will be introduced to Xbox Live in late October, Microsoft has confirmed.
"October 27 - that's the date when you'll be able to watch TV from Sky on your Xbox 360," said Graeme Boyd, Microsoft Europe's Xbox community manager.
Announced in May, the service will allow Xbox 360 owners to access a range of channels and programmes to view live or on-demand. Content will initially be offered in standard definition only, and won't be recordable.
While Boyd added that channel line-up and pricing are "to come at launch", users can expect to be able to access movies and entertainment shows, as well as documentaries and programming dedicated to kids, music, the arts and sport, including Premier League football and Test Match cricket.
While Boyd added that channel line-up and pricing are "to come at launch"
I thought this service was free?
I will say this though, for all the bigging up MS have done about Twitter, Facebook, LastFM and Sky they sure arent making this easy to understand how and when we access it and use it.
I have to admit, the fact that they are being cagey about the price is setting alarm bells ringing for me. I reckon the launch day will come and it will be too expensive, and ultimately p**s on my strawberries.
I hope I'm worng, and could still use the sky thing to watvh freeview as my reception sucks.
Xbox LIVE Gold and relevant Sky or Skyplayer subscription required. Minimum 2mb broadband connection recommended and minimum 1 month contract required. Available from Autumn 2009.
Looks like this will be subscription based rather than "pay-on-demand"
I use IPTV and freeview anyway so I dont really need sky. BTvision deals with all my tv needs when I'm not gaming or watching dvd/blu rays plus dont fancy watching tv over the sound of my xbox anyway. I'm sorry I'm not picking its just how it is.
For the price we pay for Live this should be free tbh.
has talking s**t become the norm for this site?
you pay 11p a day for xbox live,roughly Ł3.33 a month...how the hell would that mean we should get SKY TV for free,when the basic SKY TV package is about Ł15 a month anyway?
if you don't want xbox live gold,don't pay it,instead of moaning about it all the time
I pay for an Xbox Live subscription and a Sky subscription already, so adding even more charges for a simple Sky Player is rediculous.
This is supposed to be something that attracts people to Sky if they already have a 360, or attract people to the 360 if they only have Sky. Charging anything at all for those of us that already have both is insulting. I'd rather get another Sky Box and multiroom with ALL possible channels, whilst not having to use broadband, if they intend on charging multiroom-esque prices.
I may be getting the wrong end of the stick here as I haven't seen any confirmation of current Sky TV subscribers getting this service for free.
As a side note, this most definately should not be free for people that do not have a Sky TV subscription. If they do it per programme, i reckon it'll be expensive, if it's per month, then it'll prob be around a tenner at least, imho.
The only reason I'm wanting this is for multiroom capabilities without needing another Sky HD box. Considering that this partnership is designed to make money for both parties first and foremost, I would have thought a lot would be interested in this if it would allow folks to avoid buying another Sky HD box for multiroom.
getting your parents sky details and setting this up for free (assuming they aren't using sky player already) works. my friend lives 30 miles from his parents and has access to everything they subscribe to - live - from his laptop.
The only way you can watch it for free is if you have a multiroom sub or get sky broadband max and also subscribe to the relavent channels otherwise they will be PPV.
If you already have a Sky subscription then you get those channels free on Sky Player/Xbox live, which I'm sure is great for all those kids out there with 360s in their bedrooms, which will now provide the same service as Sky Multi room, without the extra costs involved. To the rest of us it'll just act as a catch up service for shows we've missed, which isn't bad for a free service.
As for the wally who thinks Xbox live costs Ł5 a month, I'm paying less than half that, and I'm happy to do so (great online service that's always improving).
Now if they could only do a deal with Lovefilm.com......
The only way you can watch it for free is if you have a multiroom sub or get sky broadband max and also subscribe to the relavent channels otherwise they will be PPV.
"Will Xbox 360 owners from USA be able to get Sky Tv too or just the UK?"
Just UK or europe, where sky is already in service i beleive. most noticeable is they advertise premier league football so its obviously aimed mainly at people in the UK as i dont know weather the rest of western europe has sky.
and i understand PPV aslong as thats only for people who dont already suscribe to sky, im sure i heard its free if you already suscribe, which is all good cause watching Super Sunday football with 7 other people over live will be great =D
"Will Xbox 360 owners from USA be able to get Sky Tv too or just the UK?"
Just UK or europe, where sky is already in service i beleive. most noticeable is they advertise premier league football so its obviously aimed mainly at people in the UK as i dont know weather the rest of western europe has sky.
and i understand PPV aslong as thats only for people who dont already suscribe to sky, im sure i heard its free if you already suscribe, which is all good cause watching Super Sunday football with 7 other people over live will be great =D
The only way you can watch it for free is if you have a multiroom sub or get sky broadband max and also subscribe to the relavent channels otherwise they will be PPV.
Seems your right, I've not used the service on my PC (other than to sign up for it), but taking another look at it I see it's way to complicated, with shows I thought would be free to me costing money, even just to stream. I really can't see this working out for Xbox owners.
As Gav said earlier, this will work the same way as it would on the PC.
I have Sky HD downstairs and Sky Plus upstairs. Using sky player on the PC, enables me to watch certain channels on the PC as well as watch quite a decent catalogue of films at no extra charge. I do use the service quite a bit in all honesty, especially for some of the older and more classic films, as well as for stuff that I would probably pass up watching as the wife probably wouldn't want to watch it anyway.
The only things you pay for, are series like Lost, Bones and Lie to Me. All these things that are generally going to make it as a series boxset, will be either PPV or Buy to Own. What you are able to watch, will depend on your Sky subscription. As I have 2 Sky boxes with full subscriptions, I get to watch pretty much everything at no extra cost.
I hope this clarifies things better for some people.
I'll stick to watching Sky TV with my Sky+ box, ta. And I'll stick to using my Mac or laptop to access Facebook and Twitter. Never used MSN on 360, seemed like a waste of time. Weirdly, I use my 360 to play games. Is that old fashioned? If so, then hooray for old-fashionedness!
I also find it strange that MS are adding so much to the 360, but have yet to add a web browser. Too scared of viruses because they can't be bothered to make their software hack-proof?
Hmm, I see. Thanks for the responses. But like Darkstar, I'll be sticking with my boxes and things that do the job properly. I was never going to use it anyway since I have multi room but my friends were asking me how it works
Yeah, I can see where you are all coming from, with sticking to the dedicated box, but what about in times of need when the signal goes t**s up, especially when the weather is really bad.
The impression I get from the xbox.com/skyplayer page is that it'll work like Sky Multiroom but instead or installing a new extra box you use your Xbox360.
Multiroom is usually Ł10 a month on top of your normal sky subscription and new box cost.
If a sky & xbox360 gold subscriber still needs to pay this extra Ł10 per month, you'd be as well off getting an extra box imo as it'll have more channels, better picture quality and be more reliable.
Therefore, the real winners are likely to be anyone who's interested in having Sky but can't put up a sat dish at home.
The impression I get from the xbox.com/skyplayer page is that it'll work like Sky Multiroom but instead or installing a new extra box you use your Xbox360.
Multiroom is usually Ł10 a month on top of your normal sky subscription and new box cost.
If a sky & xbox360 gold subscriber still needs to pay this extra Ł10 per month, you'd be as well off getting an extra box imo as it'll have more channels, better picture quality and be more reliable.
Therefore, the real winners are likely to be anyone who's interested in having Sky but can't put up a sat dish at home.
Or someone like myself who can't get Sky multi room because my flat only has 2 sky points which run the sky hd+
Its free if you have the top broadband package from what I gather, which will just be an extra Ł5 for me giving me TV & faster broadband
Shame that it doesn't seem like they are broadcasting any HD channels. Still it will be better than the signal I get from the Sky magic eye thing at the moment
Wonder how it will compare to BBC iplayer on my PS3, cos that is good
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