A senior figure at Sky has explained why the Sky Player broadband TV service is not offering HD content to subscribers.

Sky recently opened up the Sky Player service to those who are not signed up to its satellite TV service, but no HD content has been available over the internet as of yet, despite the leaps taken in broadband technology.

Speaking to Tech Radar, Sky's director of OnDemand Griff Parry explained that he would not launch HD content unless a significant share of users could enjoy it.

Parry told the technology news provider: "My problem with it is that, although it will probably happen in the future, I can't deliver it reliably to the majority of people so I would risk falling on my arse.

"This is the best effort solution so lots of people aren't actually going to be able to get an SD experience all the time, so if I start playing with it and delivering HD I'm just creating a difficult communications experience."

Sky has appointed Flash competitor Microsoft's Silverlight to provide the streaming technology for the Sky Player.