Microsoft has added BBC iPlayer to the Xbox.

Various sites last week expressed their surprise about the upcoming the release, but it's one Microsoft and the Corporation signalled back in October 2011, as Reg Hardware reported at the time.

Other IPTV services promised back then include Channel 4's 4OD and Channel 5's Demand Five. They made it in plenty of time - neither Microsoft nor the BBC said why it had taken so long to port iPlayer over.

But it is Kinect-compatible, Microsoft said, noting that "or the first time it is possible for BBC iPlayer users to discover and play programmes using hand gestures and voice recognition".

Xbox owners, look for a Live update today. ®

Related stories

• BT Vision to stream UKTV channels (23 March 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/23/bt_vision_to_stream_uktv_channels/

• Big Media drags 142,000 through UK's courts in a year (20 March 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/20/bbc_upstairs_we_watch_downstairs_you_pay/

• TV tax takers reveal Brits telly habits (15 March 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/15/tv_licensing_organisation_reveals_2011_uk_tv_viewing_habits/

• BBC boss confirms iTunes alternative in store (15 March 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/15/bbc_director_general_confirms_project_barcelona_apple_itunes_rival/

• BBC iPlayer boss: smart TVs not sufficiently simple (2 March 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/03/02/bbc_iplayer_boss_tells_smart_tv_makers_to_simplify_their_sets/

• Smart telly trends make Apple 'iTV' a certainty (21 February 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/02/21/connected_tv_market_trands_make_apple_itv_a_certainty/

• Sky Anytime+ to pipe BBC iPlayer (30 January 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/01/30/sky_bbc_itvplayer_deal/