Video On Demand
This page takes a look at the various video and TV 'on demand' services available in the UK, to let you watch the TV and films you want, when you want to watch them.
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Listen to show 19, covering On Demand TV:
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What is Video On Demand?
The world of TV is changing - for years we've had multiple channels of TV, and more recently, we've seen the introduction of DVRs (digital recorders that record TV onto hard-disk). From 2007 we started to see an increase in what's known as VoD - Video on demand. In Show 19 of our online radio show, we took a closer look at Video On Demand
The concept is that with a VoD service, you can watch the TV programme or movie you want, when you want - without having to wait for a programme to start, worrying about forgetting to record a programme, or making a trip to your local Blockbuster video. Here, we'll outline some of the Video-on-demand options available in the UK:
Virgin Media Cable TV
Highlights: Must be in a Cable area. Offers free digital TV channels on some packages.
If you're served by cable TV operator Virgin Media, take a look at their Virgin TV On Demand service. This offers you a huge library of TV programmes and around 500 movies that you can access whenever you like, in addition to your normal channels. You can also access recent BBC, ITV and Channel 4 shows. Content is provided on-demand via Virgin's cable network and a supplied set-top box.
For more details, go to www.virginmedia.com
BT Vision
Highlights: No subscription fee (if you get your Broadband from BT). Good collection of TV, films and sport on pay-per-view. Great value for BT Broadband customers
BT Vision began rolling out in 2007, offering a set-top box that gets live TV with Freeview, has a digital disk recorder, and gets video content downloaded over Broadband. You'll need to get your Internet via BT Total Broadband, and at the time of writing, BT Total Broadband subscribers get the V-Box for free, with a one-off payment of £30 to activate the service. If you don't fancy the "self-install" option and want BT to pop round and install it all for you, there's an installation fee of £60.
BT's VoD service includes movies, special programming, recent TV shows that you may have missed as well as sporting events including Premier League football. You can access on-demand content on a pay-as-you-view option, or on subscription from £3 a month. Catch-up TV from BBC (free) and Channel 4 is available.
More info on our BT Vision page. We reviewed BT Vision in Show 12. To get Vision, you'll need to switch to BT Broadband
Tiscali TV
Highlights: Not UK-wide. £15 a month subscription
In some parts of the UK (currently London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leicester, Wolverhampton, Salford, Stevenage, Milton Keynes and Warrington and a few others), you may be able to connect to Tiscali TV (formerly Homechoice). This service offers over 80 TV channels over a phone line. The service currently offers the widest choice of on-demand content - including over 1000 on-demand movies, over 5000 music videos and a number of TV series for download and playback on your TV. The service comes with a set-top box to connect to your phone line and TV.
More at www.tiscali.co.uk
Sky Anytime
Highlights: Watch movies, sport and TV on your PC (free service to Sky subscribers).
PC service: Download and watch content on your PC. Service includes Sky movies (including Sky Box Office), Sky Sports highlights and episodes from Sky's top TV series. Uses Windows Media Player and a special application.
Set-top box: Sky launched Sky Anytime TV in March 2007. The service has similarities to Top Up TV Anytime's offering, in that movies and TV shows will be sent over-the-air to Sky+ and Sky HD boxes, which can then be viewed "on demand". The box captures about 40 hours a week. There's talk of Sky boxes being able to go online for on-demand content in the future.
You must be a Sky Digital subscriber
More details: www.sky.com/anytime . We reviewed Sky and Sky Anytime in Show 16
Top Up TV Anytime
Highlights: Limited content available. £99.99 for the box, plus £9.99 a month.
A different twist on 'on-demand' - The service uses a special Freeview set-top box that downloads special TV content overnight onto the built-in hard-disk. The box captures 100 hours of content over the course of a week from channels including UK Gold, UK Style, TCM Movies and Living TV. There's also a movie service offering 7 movies a week. The selection is a little limited - you get what you're given.
More info on our Top Up TV Anytime page. We reviewed Top Up TV Anytime in Show 10.
TV on a PC
A number of UK broadcasters are offering TV content via a PC online:
| BBC | The BBC launched its iPlayer service in July 2007. This is free-to-use and offers a 7 day catch-up service on BBC shows. More at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
BBC iPlayer is available for PC and Mac. In March 2008, a version for the Apple iPhone became available, and in April 2008, a version appeared for the Nintendo Wii console. BBC iPlayer is now available over Virgin Media , and you can access the BBC's catch-up TV service on a free BT Vision set-top box. More on the BBC iPlayer Unofficial Guide We covered the BBC iPlayer in-depth in Show 26 of our radio show - listen online now. |
| ITV | ITV launched an online streaming TV service in 2007. They offer a 30 day catch-up service. Rather than offering downloads, they'll stream content to a PC, for faster access. The service is be free, and funded by adverts. Go to www.itv.com/Watchnow |
| Channel 4 | Channel 4 launched 4oD - their free seven day catch-up service. Other content is available, priced from 99p to £1.99. 4oD content is also available on BT Vision. www.channel4.com/4od |
| Five | Offering downloadable episodes of some of their top shows, priced from 99p to £1.99. download.five.tv |
| Sky TV | Offering an Anytime service - movies, sporting highlights and recent TV shows. Free to Sky customers. www.sky.com/anytime |
Apple iTunes
Apple's now offering TV shows, including BBC shows such as Damages, and hit US shows such as Lost, South Park, That 70's Show, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives. Download shows to watch on your PC or Mac, or copy them to your iPod, iTouch, iPhone, etc.
Hopefully you're already using iTunes for listening to our podcast. Go to www.apple.com/itunes to see what's on offer (you can also subscribe to our show).
Cinema Now
Highlights: Download movies on demand to your PC.
CinemaNow is a US-based legal movie download service that lets you download movies via Broadband, legally. Search and select a movie from their large database, pay the rental fee, download the movie. You're allowed to watch the movie for a 24 hour period from the moment you open the movie file. You don't need to be connected to the 'Net while you watch.
More details: www.cinemanow.com.
DVD Rental
Highlights: DVD mail order rental service with no late fees.
Not your actual on-demand, but worth considering if you're into your DVDs... LOVEFiLM offers a mail-order service where you'll be posted DVDs in accordance with a list you set up. You can hang on to them for as long as you want, and when you return them, they'll send you another one from your list. Receive an unlimited number of DVDs through the post with no late fees. LOVEFiLM currently offer over 64,500 films with 24/7 online ordering, free delivery and returns.
More info: www.lovefilm.com
On Demand outside the UK?
UK TV from outside the UK? A question from Sarah in New Zealand... "There are lots of British Ex-Pats living in New Zealand - me being one of them. I really want to subscribe to UK TV on demand via PC. I would love to watch BBC and ITV and C4 programmes. I am having no luck being able to subscribe to anything as I live abroad. Do you know of anywhere I could join. New Zealand TV is awful and although they sometimes have UK programmes they are mostly 3 years out of date!"
Hmmm - tough one. TV programmes are hot property for the show's producers and TV studios, and it's all about broadcast rights and territories. A broadcaster will pay to screen a TV show within a certain country for a certain time period, and the TV channel bids for the broadcast rights. If a service were to pop up offering TV shows to a worldwide audience, then the system breaks down - this compares with the fact that DVDs are region-coded, and only play in certain parts of the world.
This page lists services that provide TV shows to the UK, but many of these are not available outside of the UK. Here are a couple of of other options worth a look:
- We've found a service called JumpTV that has partnered with more than 180 television broadcasters from over 60 countries to provide live broadcasting of TV stations from around the world. More details at www.jumptv.com.
- See www.joost.com for a service that offers a small selection of shows on demand.
- Slingbox - Here's a clever one. If you have a friend (or office) in the UK with a broadband connection, you could get them to buy and connect a Slingbox to their TV aerial and Broadband connection - you can then watch TV that's streamed from this box from any Internet-enabled PC in the world. A clever solution. More on our Slingbox page.
Got any other suggestions? Let us know.
Got a question on Video On Demand?
Call 0208 133 4567 for inclusion on our show, or send us a message
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