Freesat has inked a deal that will see the BBC iPlayer launched on the digital TV service next month. The service, a joint venture between the BBC and ITV, is also planning to launch ITV’s catch-up TV service, the ITV Player, in the first half of next year.

Freesat will be the first free-to-air service to launch the ITV Player, allowing viewers to watch on-demand programming via their TV set rather than a computer. The iPlayer is already available to customers of BT Vision and Virgin Media.

The deals will mark the first extension of Freesat to offer catch-up TV services with a limited, closed “beta” version of the iPlayer set to launch on December 7th for “a few hundred” selected users.

Freesat said it was aiming to launch an open beta version of the iPlayer, accessible to around 230,000 Freesat households with compatible set-top boxes, by Christmas.

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