The BBC iPlayer, an on-demand Internet based TV service that allows UK consumers to download and watch BBC TV programmes broadcast over the past week, has been unofficially ported to the PS3 by someone who was unhappy that the Nintendo Wii was the only games console to get access to the service. The unofficial site works by masking the PS3's user-agent string the browser supplies as well as makes several changes to allow the JavaScript and CSS to function properly on the PS3. The developer of the site claims it just took a day to produce the site and is publicly asking the BBC to implement it. The unofficial site has been designed to only work on a PS3.
It didn't take long for the BBC to notice and rather than the usual expectation of a content provider to quickly plug unofficial access to its content, the BBC head of digital media technology, Anthony Rose, said in a BBC Internet blog that he's actually impressed. He went on to say that the BBC is investigating supporting iPlayer on the PS3, which will be launched officially "in due course".
Since the iPlayer Christmas last year, the service has become such a major success in the UK that it has recently accounted for 3% to 5% of all Internet data traffic in Britain, enough to upset some ISPs over its bandwidth usage. With the service soon coming to the living room TV through Nintendo Wii and PS3, P2P file sharing bandwidth may soon no longer be the main bandwidth hog, at least in the UK. Luckily the iPlayer just delivers content in standard definition.
