It’s not just BSkyB making an appearance on Xbox Live today. BBC Worldwide is also making its shows available to buy with Xbox Live Points from the console’s Marketplace, as well as through the Zune portable media player’s Marketplace – but only in America.
Shows include BBC America channel staples Top Gear, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Little Britain, Robin Hood and Primeval, which is actually an ITV (LSE: ITV) show in the UK but distributed overseas by BBCWW. The lineup joins the big roster of TV show downloads Xbox in the US already has from the likes of ABC, CBS (NYSE: CBS) and Fox. Shows come in standard definition or, for the double the number of console points, hi-def, and can even be downloaded from Xbox.com.
Like all broadcasters with any sense, BBCWW is packaging its shows and clips up for online syndication. It joined YouTube with an ad rev share in 2007 and, by the following year, distribution and sale of clips through destinations like YouTube, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iTunes, MySpace TV and Playstation had reaped a sixfold revenue increase at £7 million. But the income is likely to be even higher in figures for the current year, which we