Microsoft launches Xbox 360 Sky Player

Microsoft has officially rolled out the new Sky Player service for the Xbox 360, which was announced earlier this year and which allows Xbox 360 users in the UK and Ireland to watch Sky TV on demand.

There are some caveats, obviously.

The Sky Player for Xbox 360 will only be available to Xbox Live Gold members, who can watch programmes from 24 available channels in a live stream, with a selection of further channels re-running popular shows from the last month. There's also around 400 films available too from the current selection listed on the Sky Movies channels.

If you're a Xbox Live Gold member with a Sky subscription already then you get this content for free, providing that the channels are included in your Sky plan. No Sky Movies or Sky Sports unless you have those channels on your TV, for example. You'll also need to pay a £5 GBP charge for getting the content in multiple rooms too, just as you do with the PC-based version of Sky Player which has been available for a while.

If you don't have an existing Sky account then you can sign up to get the Sky content direct to your Xbox 360 through the internet (i.e. without a satellite dish) for a £15 GBP fee. That £15 covers only the Basic Entertainment Pack though and the cost rises to £50 GBP if you want to get the Sky Movies and full Sky Sports package too.

If you're using an Xbox Live Silver account then you are still able to get the Sky News content for free, while a new Sky Player retail package will be launching soon to offer you one month of Sky Sports, three months of Xbox Live Gold and a media remote. That'll cost you £29.99 GBP.

Content will only be available in standard definition too, in order to ensure smooth streaming for all users, and will be available at three different quality levels depending on your connection. The maximum line speed requirement is 2mbps.

The 24 channels currently on offer include the usual suspects - listed below - and Sky has hinted that it will expand the selection in the future, though doesn't plan to bring all the +1 channels to consoles just yet. No terrestrial channels are supported either.

Check the full channel list below and let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Entertainment Pack
G.O.L.D.
Sky Real Lives
Sky Arts 1
MTV ONE
Sky Sports News
British Eurosport
ESPN Classic
Sky News
National Geographic
Nat Geo Wild
History
Eden
Cartoon Network
Boomerang
Nickelodeon
Disney Channel
Nick Jr

Sport Pack
Sky Sports 1
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports 3
Sky Sports XTRA
ESPN (additional cost)
(Plus all sport video on-demand channels)

Movies Pack
Sky Movies Screen 1
Sky Movies Screen 2
(Plus over 400 movies on-demand)