MUMBAI: The BBC iPlayer will be available on a trial basis to a select group of Freesat users starting 7 December while the ITV Player will launch in beta in early 2010.

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 the Internet. Freesat is currently available in 750,000 homes in the UK.
 
The iPlayer is already available to customers of BT Vision and Virgin Media. The trial is designed to work on Humax HD set-top-boxes, currently owned by one in three Freesat viewers. 
 
The Freesat iPlayer offering will provide 450 hours of BBC on-demand programming per week, including Top Gear, EastEnders, Life and Gavin and Stacey for viewers to watch for up to seven days after the programmes have aired on TV.