14 DAY TRIAL // It was only a matter of time before the colonies and the mainland got in another conflict. Not as trivial as tea, this time it's the Xbox Live Gold subscription that has the UK and the States arguing. Another service to be provided to consoles is BBC's iPlayer that's available on the PlayStation 3 and on the Wii. The service could have come to the Xbox 360 as well, but it looks like Microsoft's money-grabbing schemes have turned against it. When Microsoft decided to restrict the service to Gold members only, the BBC decided to withdraw the iPlayer offer for the Xbox 360.
The problem here isn't that the BBC is fighting for the oppressed masses, it is more of a legal obstacle for them than a moral one. The British public cannot be charged for access to BBC programs because the use of the iPlayer is already covered by the TV license fee that the British already have to pay. As such, offering the service via the Xbox 360 and the subscription of the Xbox Live Gold would force the British audience to pay for something that it has already paid for.
A BBC source told The Telegraph that, "Microsoft only wants to offer its users access to platforms it can charge for as this is the model it is pursuing. This does not fit with the BBC's model and Microsoft will not budge at the moment. It is really frustrating for those involved on the BBC side who want to make sure iPlayer is rolled out on as many popular entertainment platforms as possible."
The official statement from the British Broadcasting Company says pretty much the same thing, but in a more polite way. "BBC iPlayer has been extremely successful on PS3 and we recently re-launched on Nintendo Wii, from which the public response has been fantastic. People clearly want the BBC iPlayer on their gaming consoles, and we don't think Xbox users are any different, so we've had discussions with Microsoft about bringing the service to the platform." If Xbox users will end up with access to the iPlayer remains to be seen, but the Gold subscription issue emerged in similar situations before, and things didn't go smoothly at all.