The BBC iPlayer is to become available on the Nintendo Wii today which will bring the iPlayer into the mainstream and into people’s living rooms and onto their TVs as apposed to on their computers or iPod devices.
Wii users will have install the Internet Channel on their Wii which costs 500 Wii points, which is around £3.50. It is hoped that this will not be necessary in the future depending on how successful this is and if there is demand for a Wii optimised iPlayer.
There are over 2.5 million Nintendo Wii consoles in the UK with forecasts suggesting that by Christmas this year that number will be up to around the 5 million mark meaning that there could be huge extra demand for the use of the iPlayer.
Obviously the Nintendo Wii will need to be connected up to the Internet so it can download and stream the content from the iPlayer.
A broadband connection of 1Mb is going to be the minimum that is really required for the iPlayer to work properly, because an increased bit-rate from 500Kb to 820Kb is needed for the Nintendo Wii due to a Codec used by the Wii to get the same picture quality as other devices.
This is further going to put ISPS on edge as the iPlayer is eating into broadband providers profits already as users are using far more data transfer across the networks to catch up on TV programmes. As more and more devices become iPlayer compatible the demand and use of it is going to keep on increasing and stretch broadband providers budgets.
It may be another reason for extra clarity in the "Unlimited broadband" to truly mean unlimited and not covered by a "fair use policy".
Author: Mark Ward Copyright: BroadbandWatchdog.co.uk - NetMediaUK.com
There are over 2.5 million Nintendo Wii consoles in the UK with forecasts suggesting that by Christmas this year that number will be up to around the 5 million mark meaning that there could be huge extra demand for the use of the iPlayer.
