British broadcaster and ISP BSkyB ( Sky Broadband ) has struck a new content deal with Microsoft that will see live football, TV and film content delivered to owners of the software giant’s popular XBox 360 games console. Details about what content will be shared and how much it will cost have not been revealed, although an autumn launch is on the cards.

The BBC News Online item adds that Sky's live sport, programmes, catch-up TV and on demand films, without the need to be an existing Sky customer, will be available through the service. Existing Sky subscribers should expect to receive some special deals, which isn't surprising because who would want to pay for content twice.


XBox 360 owners should expect the content to be similar to BSkyB's existing online Sky Player service. By comparison both of Microsoft's rivals - Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, have access to the BBC's iPlayer content. It's known that iPlayer will probably come to the 360 too, albeit not when.

Naturally the new service is likely to put added pressure on ISPs and broadband capacity, thus consumers are always well advised to keep a close eye on any usage restrictions or extra costs that could/can be imposed by their provider.