The ITV Hub is one of the UK’s most popular streaming apps. It offers a huge library of homegrown dramas, entertainment shows, soaps and documentaries from one of the country’s biggest broadcasters.
This summer, the ITV Hub will be one of the most essential apps for football fans. Alongside BBC, ITV is the UK's official provider of Euro 2020 coverage.
So, if you're wanting to use your Xbox to watch the Euros via the ITV Hub - maybe to sneak in a game of Warzone at halftime - here's what you need to know.
READ MORE: Will there be a BBC iPlayer app on Xbox Series X/S?
Is ITV Hub on Xbox One?
Yes!
ITV Hub is immediately available for download on the Xbox One console right now. Console owners simply need to go to the Microsoft Store and search for the ITV Hub.
Lucky Xbox owners can download the ITV Hub app to their system to watch all of this hot content. But it's a different story for PS4 fans. There is sadly no version of the app geared specifically towards Sony’s gaming hardware.
Why isn't there an ITV Hub app on the PS4?
There’s no clear reason for why ITV hasn’t made their ITV Hub player available on the PS4. However, we do know that making a system-specific version of a player app such as ITV Hub requires specialised development and support, which is geared towards the quirks of that particular system. This can cost a lot of time, money and staff resources.
It’s not just a case of making one universal app and pushing it out to every platform or device. Therefore, the broadcaster needs to make sure that the effort of making each different version of the app is worth their while.
Which is all well and good. But the real conundrum is: why did ITV deem the Xbox worthy of an app and not the PS4? Well, the answer is – we don't know.
It could be that ITV has deemed the PlayStation 4 as a low priority for app development, perhaps because of audience demographics or some other reason. However, we can't see why that reason would be any different for the Xbox One.
It's more likely that there's some kind of technical reason. Perhaps the Xbox ecosystem is easier/cheaper to design this kind of app for. Or perhaps it's similar to another, higher priority platform, meaning that it was a relatively simple process to port the app over.
It could also be that ITV has written off the PS4 already and is focusing on its next-generation successor, the PS5. We’ll find out when that console gets released later this year – watch this space.
READ MORE: Will YouTube be on Xbox Series S/X?