Nintendo Wii owners who can't stop playing their favourite games in time for the start of Doctor Who will be able to watch BBC programmes they have missed using their console from this afternoon.

The tie-up means that all BBC programmes transmitted over the last seven days will be available to 2.5 million homes with a Wii — but similar tie-ups with Sony, maker of the PlayStation, and Microsoft, maker of the XBox 360 appear unlikely.

Erik Huggers, the group controller at the BBC’s future media and technology division, said that it was easier to work with Nintendo because the Wii console uses a standard internet browser. Programmes can therefore be delivered using the BBC’s iPlayer application.

“If you want to get on the PlayStation or Xbox, they want control of the look, the feel and the experience; they want it done within their shop, and their shop only,” Mr Huggers said, adding that the BBC wanted to make its technology broadly available to licence fee payers.

It is already possible to watch BBC programmes for up to a week after they are transmitted on a PC or Apple Mac, but the Corporation was keen to work with Nintendo to help broaden the appeal of its programming to young people, an area where it traditionally has less appeal. “The demographics of the Wii are very exciting for us,” said Mr Huggers. “Nintendo has helped reach a broader range of people with the Wii”.

Dawn Paine, the UK marketing manager for the company, said it was the first time that the company had signed up to make any broadcaster’s programmes available over the Wii, although it is possible to access a range of multimedia content via the £179.99 device. She added that Nintendo was in discussions to broaden its range of television content.

BBC programmes will be available only inside the UK, as the agreement only covers the part of the Corporation’s activities funded by the licence fee. However, it would not be technically difficult to introduce international and commercial versions of the iPlayer, if there was a demand to do so.

Watching BBC programmes on computers after their transmission has proved surprisingly popular, with 17.2 million requests to watch programmes made during March, an increase of 25 per cent on February. The most watched programmes currently are the first episode of the new series of The Apprentice, followed by Louis Theroux: Behind Bars, an investigation of the US penal system by the documentary maker.

Internet service providers have complained that the massive amount of extra traffic generated by people watching BBC television online is overloading their systems — while consumers are facing unexpected costs because the sheer volume of content breaches limits on the amount of data that can be downloaded as part of the monthly fee.

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