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This is a joint ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Nintendo UK release

The ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Nintendo UK today unveil a new version of the popular ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer on Nintendo's Wii.

First made available through the console's Internet Channel in April 2008, ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer will now be available as a dedicated Wii Channel to provide Wii users with a new, richer experience of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s TV and radio on-demand catch-up service.

The new Wii Channel is expected to be available from 12.01am on Wednesday 18 November.

Since ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer first launched on the Nintendo Wii, there have been 900,000 requests for TV and radio programmes, and this new version of ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer for Wii has been designed to deliver a better and higher quality experience, with a new full-screen user interface allowing the whole family to catch up on TV and radio together in the lounge.

Erik Huggers, Director, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Future Media & Technology, said: "We're pleased that we've been able to work with Nintendo to evolve ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer on the Wii, providing a faster, high quality and improved viewing experience.

"It's important that we offer audiences more ways to access the huge range of ´óÏó´«Ã½ content available, and this improved version of ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer underlines our commitment to reaching new audiences by making ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer available on as many platforms as possible."

David Yarnton, General Manager, Nintendo UK, added: "Our partnership with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is another way in which Nintendo is looking to broaden the market for its products by offering compelling and relevant content to families.

"´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer offers Wii owners another reason to turn their console on everyday and adds to the already established non-gaming content on Wii that includes Wii Channels for news, weather forecasts and an internet browser."

To use the new ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer on Nintendo's Wii, Wii users should download the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer Wii Channel from the menu screen of Wii Shop Channel. Once downloaded, users simply click on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer icon to launch the new full screen service, then select and play their favourite ´óÏó´«Ã½ TV or radio programme that they want to watch.

´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer can now be accessed on an increasing number of different platforms and devices, including mobile phones, TVs and gaming consoles.

Notes to Editors

The Nintendo's Wii users will incur no charge for downloading the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer Wii channel. As the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer Wii channel is only available in the United Kingdom, Nintendo Wii users should make sure their Wii is set to the UK.

There are currently nearly six million Wii consoles in homes across the UK (Data courtesy of Chart Track GfK, Annual Consoles By Format, Week 45 Year 2009. Week ending 7 November 2009. Copyright Chart Track GfK 2009).

´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer

Since its launch on Christmas Day 2007, ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer has grown to a service receiving more than 75 million requests per month for ´óÏó´«Ã½ TV and radio programmes. The on-demand service from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ allows UK audiences to catch up with their favourite ´óÏó´«Ã½ content broadcast over the last seven days at a time that is suitable for them. Audiences have a choice of streaming or downloading their chosen programme, and with 'series stacking' selected programmes are made available for the entire season. First launched on the computer, ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer is now available on more than 20 devices, including on TV services, games consoles and mobile phones, providing UK audiences greater access to the wealth of content available from the ´óÏó´«Ã½.

About Nintendo

The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co Ltd, of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo has sold more than 3.2 billion video games and more than 535 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Zelda and Pokémon. A wholly-owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Grossostheim, Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in Europe.

DM