iPlayer set for December Freesat launch

Viewers of Freesat, the UK’s free-to-air DTH service, will soon be able to catch-up with missed programmes as the BBC plans to launch its iPlayer on-demand service on the platform before Christmas and ITV player next year.

A beta version of the iPlayer will launch on Freesat on December 7, with select journalists and partners having access to the service. Freesat said it hoped to offer the catch-up service to a much wider audience before Christmas.  Freesat viewers with a HD set-top or integrated HD TV will be able to watch iPlayer by connecting the device to the internet via the Ethernet port. Viewers will need an actual broadband speed of 1Mbps to watch iPlayer or 2Mbps to watch in high quality.

Freesat also announced that ITV Player, ITV’s version of iPlayer, will also launch on the platform in the first half of 2010.