Sony have released news that they are in the process of bringing ITV’s ITVPlayer to the PS3 along side the BBC’s iPlayer. This news has been revealed during Gamescom which is currently running in Germany.

The new service is due to go live later this year, there are also rumors that Channel 4’s 4oD may be coming to the platform this year too, this really would position the Playstation 3 as the center of a home media system.

Sony have also announced other updates for European territories, bringing 6 new streaming media services to the platform over the coming months.

Not to be left behind, Virgin Media has opened up its new Player service for beta, uesrs to be able to access its new on demand system via a computer or mobile and an internet connection.

The new service will give access to content from MTV, ITV, Living, Disney and National Geographic. The new service enters its beta with hundreds of hours of content available for users to start watching.

The new service beta is available for XL TV customers to use on their computers, and Virgin Mobile Pay Monthly customers on their phones.

The service will go into full service later in the year, Virgin Media plan to add more content before then too. To take part in the beta you will have to register via the Virgin Media website.

While Sky 3D has been available in pubs for a period already, the availability of a home version of the channel hasn’t yet happened. Sky will be starting to broadcast it from October 1st. The 2010 Ryder Cup will be the first event to be broadcast in full 3D to every home that can receive Sky TV.

Not only will Golf be broadcast in 3D but upcoming Premiership football games and also 3D films from various movie studios to be shown.

If you aren’t yet ready for 3D, Sky are also adding more HD content to their platform, with the plan to expand to 50 HD channels by the end of the year.

Do you use the BBC’s iPlayer on your PC? Do you have a TV Licence at home? For those who don’t have an actual TV, but do watch the TV via the iPlayer you currently don’t have to pay the TV Licensing Fee. However this could be changed as soon as next year if ministers plans go ahead.

The plans follow growing evidence that more viewers are watching TV online than ever before, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and others are becoming more popular than normal TV due to the convenience they give their users.

The BBC’s technology chief recently commented on web viewers currently getting a ‘free ride’ with the ability to watch the BBC’s services without paying the licensing fee. As an example, approximately 40% of students would rather use their laptop / computer to watch rather than an actual TV set. Due to this, changes in the way the BBC receives its funding are needed.

Nothing is certain yet, but discussions with the BBC Trust will happen later this year and could be brought into effect as soon as next year. The BBC has already started reducing its spending, this combined with changes in the licence fee could reduce the cost to each household.

Having criticised the BBC’s “extraordinary and outrageous” wasting of resources the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that the fee that every house hold has to pay for watching TV could be could as soon as next year.

At this current state, the reduction of the licence fee is a discussion to be had, but the BBC are being forced to cut costs and reduce the amount it spends on wages having had its financial management massively criticised.

It will be interesting to see what happens going forwards, tough decisions need to be made going forwards to streamline the BBC’s service to its viewers and give the maximum value for money to licence fee payers.

The BBC Trust has approved the development of Project Canvas following a regulatory process that started back in February 2009. The project is a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT, Talk Talk and Arqiva to develop and build a standard platform for viewing of internet content (on demand content) via a set top box. This would allow the same box to show content from iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and other on demand systems through the one box / tv.

The trust has concluded that the system would deliver “significant public value” so has approved the development of the system. The BBC has been given the go ahead to continue to be involved in the development of the system, but has imposed some restrictions on what it can and what it can’t do to it, including limiting the financial commitment to no more than 20% over the initial estimates for the project.

Being able to access all platforms through one unified system would be a benefit to the consumer, currently some systems are computer accessible only and some can be viewed via games consoles but there is no uniformed system as yet.

Project Canvas is expected to have the branding YouView when it launches, aims to upgrade both the Freeview and Freesat platforms to add a wide range of video on demand, when it will launch is currently unknown.

Just in time for the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, ITV launched their new ITV Live service. In the first week of availability, the service has recieved over 1 million unique users, though I suspect a lot of this is due to the number of matches happening during office hours.

The ITV Live service combines a live TV stream with interactive information and social networking, in this case for the World Cup. It allows you to watch the match, access stats and replays when you want them and chat with others about the match all at the same time.

If you’ve not yet seen it, you can visit ITV Live at any time by going to http://live.itv.com/

Ofcm have given the go ahead for the implementation of DRM on the Freeview HD service. Rather than broadcast with full encryption, the go ahead has been given to encrypt the EPG (the Electronic Programme Guide), this means that DVB-T2 (HD) TV tuners for computers and other devices will still be able to recieve the content, but the timing and listing will have to be accessed via another means.

Devices that wish to access the EPG must obide by the content protection rules enforced, this will restrict the recording of certain content or the transferal to other devices from the recorder.

This change shouldn’t effect any Freeview HD kit that is already on the market, they should have the required features already so when the switch is flicked they should still work.

This protection system shouldn’t get in the way of most viewers and is unlikely to stop major privacy, however content providers like the idea that its their to protect their content.

Sky have announced that their Sports News channel, which is currently available for free on Freeview will become a pay for channel. They have said this will take place later this year, at which point the channel will only be available on Sky, Virgin Media or TalkTalk TV.

On Freeview, the channel will be replaced by Sky 3 + 1, which personally seems a waste of available airspace.

Sky has said as part of a subscription service, customers will be able to look forward to expanded coverage and the launch of Europe’s first HD sports news service. This suggests that they will be upgrading to a HD channel as well.

The BBC have confirmed plans to launch a high definition version of BBC One this year.

This will be a complete simulcast of the main channel, showing HD versions of shows where available and the normal version where not.

BBC One HD will be made available to viewers on Freeview HD, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media and will broadcast along side the existing BBC HD service.

The BBC have recognised the future of television is in HD, and are showcasing the wide variety of content they have in HD, currently this is done via a seperate HD channel (BBC HD) but from autumn BBC One will be in HD all the time it can.