Daniel Danker, general manager for programmes and on demand at the BBC, told TechRadar in a recent interview that he would still like to see iPlayer make a debut on the XBOX 360 console.

"We want to be on as many devices as possible. Of course we'd love to be on the Xbox because we want to get the iPlayer to as many licence payers as possible, which is pretty much everyone in the UK.

"We want to be on the cheapest level that you can have on Xbox, and not only for [Xbox Live] Gold subscribers."

It is thought that Microsoft want iPlayer to be a Gold Members only service on Xbox Live, while the BBC want it to be available to all. This isn't likely to go down well in the UK, as most have to pay a TV license to receive BBC content already.

In contrast, the BBC have just released a simplified version of iPlayer for the Playstation 3 and smart televisions, complete with an improved interface and a more advanced search functionality.