Microsoft to implement "revised rollout" of Sky Player

Microsoft is to begin a "revised rollout" of the Sky Player service for the Xbox 360, and will add tens of thousands of users per day in a 'turning on the tap' approach until it's available to everybody.

That's according to a statement released today on the Xbox website, following a series of problems which have seen the high profile UK launch of the TV and movie player put on hold since its original launch last week.

While the service did launch on time as planned, the company blamed a technical fault - later revealed to be far higher than expected demand - as it disappeared from the 360 dashboard.

"As you may know, we have been experiencing some technical issues with the Sky Player on Xbox 360 since launch last Tuesday morning," reads the statement. "It is important to both Sky and Xbox that we give customers as much information as possible about why the service is not working and when we expect this to be resolved.

"As we said last week, some customers have been unable to experience full use of the service due to the initial demand for the service at launch, when so many people tried to access the service all at the same time.

"Right now we are implementing a revised rollout which will see Sky Player become available to all Xbox 360 customers gradually. While unfortunately some customers do not have access to the service, tens of thousands more will be added each day, until the service is available to all.

"We are taking this phased approach to ensure that consumers experience a high-quality experience. The Sky team has contacted the affected Sky Player TV subscribers on Xbox directly with further updates."

When the service does become available it will offer users the opportunity to watch live or on-demand television and film content. A full breakdown of the costs is available in our original launch story.