ITV Player coming to PS3

At Sony's GamesCom press briefing, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe chief executive Andrew House announced six new Catch Up TV channels for the PlayStation 3, including ITV in the UK. Today, ITV has detailed its deal to make the ITV Player service available on Sony's console by the end of this year.

The deal is the first of its kind with a commercial broadcaster in the UK, says ITV (the BBC's iPlayer service is already available on the PS3 and Nintendo's Wii), and will add the channel's catch-up service to Internet-connected PS3s. The service allows viewers to watch ITV shows up to 30 days after they have been broadcast.

The ITV Player will be free but funded by advertising, with "pre-, mid-, and post-roll video ads being sold and served by ITV," meaning ads may play before, after, and during shows. After the ITV Player launches for the PS3, owners of the console will be prompted with a software update, which will add an ITV Player icon to the TV section of the main menu, where the iPlayer service currently resides.

The Sony deal is part of ITV's broader plans for "multi-platform distribution," including "games consoles, TV- and mobile-based devices." The ITV Player, based at ITV.com, was first launched in 2007 and gives access to programmes on ITV1, as well as on digital channels ITV2, 3, 4, and CITV. At the time of writing, the ITV Player's most popular shows include Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Dinner Date, and The Jeremy Kyle Show.