Microsoft has explained its revised rollout plans for Sky Player on Xbox 360 following last week’s botched launch.

"As you may know, we have been experiencing some technical issues with the Sky Player on Xbox 360 since launch last Tuesday morning. It is important to both Sky and Xbox that we give customers as much information as possible about why the service is not working and when we expect this to be resolved,” the Xbox EMEA community manager wrote on the Xbox forums.

“As we said last week, some customers have been unable to experience full use of the service due to the initial demand for the service at launch, when so many people tried to access the service all at the same time. 

“Right now we are implementing a revised rollout which will see Sky Player become available to all Xbox 360 customers gradually. While unfortunately some customers do not have access to the service, tens of thousands more will be added each day until the service is available to all.

“We are taking this phased approach to ensure that consumers experience a high-quality experience. The Sky team has contacted the affected Sky Player TV subscribers on Xbox directly with further updates.”

Sky Player on Xbox 360 launched last week but was pulled shortly after release “due to an unforeseen technical issue”. The online TV service allows Xbox Live Gold members in the UK and Ireland to access a range of content to view live or on demand. The basic viewing package costs non-Sky TV customers £15 per month.

Griff Parry, Sky's director of On Demand, said last week that Sky Player “may very well” be released on PS3 at some point down the line.