UK TV over the Internet Explored

Summary: On-demand TV content on your telly over Broadband

Availability: Now

A Freeview service with a huge library of on-demand TV shows and films. You can view on-demand content on your TV either on a pay-per-view basis or with a monthly subscription.

With BT Vision, you get a high-powered BT Vision box that records over 80 hours of TV and supports Series Link. Full details on our BT Vision page or at btvision.bt.com.

Summary: TV via Cable

Availability: NOW (cable areas)

If you're served by cable TV operator Virgin Media, take a look their digital TV service as this offers a huge library of movies and programmes that you can access whenever you like in addition to your normal telly channels, with some content available in high definition.

With the Virgin Media On Demand service, you're not tied to specific start times as the library of programmes and movies are always available.

For more details, go to www.virginmedia.com

Summary: Live TV channels on your telly over the Internet

Availability: NOW (in selected towns only)

If you live in one of the areas served by TalkTalk TV, formerly Tiscali TV, you may be able to get their digital TV and video-on-demand service. TalkTalk TV is available in towns including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leicester, Stevenage, Milton Keynes, Wolverhampton, Salford and Warrington

This service uses your phone line to deliver around 80 TV channels to your home. You're supplied with a special decoder box, and then have access to digital TV, plus other services.

TalkTalk TV offers over 1000 on-demand movies, over 5000 music videos, hundreds of TV series, and a TV rewind service.

More on TalkTalk TV on our Talktalk TV page or at talktalk.co.uk/tv.

Summary: Selected content on your PC over Broadband

Availability: Now

A number of TV companies offer their TV shows for viewing or download online. They offer a "watch again" or "catch-up TV" service. Here's a summary.

• BBC - The BBC's iPlayer allows you to watch 7 days of BBC content for free on your PC - www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
• ITV - Streaming service over the Internet, offering 30 days of "catch-up TV" - www.itv.com/ITVPlayer
• Channel 4 - On demand service from a PC. Some content is pay-per-view. www.channel4.com/4od
• Five - Repeats of some of their shows on a PC demand.five.tv
• Sky - Some Sky TV shows, plus movies are available on your PC with the Sky Player. The service is free to Sky customers. www.sky.com/skyplayer
  

Take a listen to Show 42 of FrequencyCast, our podcast, for more on the services available in the UK, or see our Catch Up TV Summary page

Summary: Content for your Windows PC or Mac

Availability: Now

Watch Sky TV without a satellite dish with Sky's online Sky Player. Packages available include Entertainment, Sky Sports and Sky Movies. No annual subscription required, and the service offers live and on-demand content over Broadband.

Go to skyplayer.sky.com for full details.

Summary: Content for your PC, iPod or iPhone

Availability: Now

iTunes, the software from Apple, has now got some deals in place to allow TV shows to be bought and downloaded on demand. BBC shows are available now, as well as US TV shows like Lost, South Park, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.

Go to www.apple.com/itunes to see what's on offer.

Blinkbox TV

Summary: Films and TV shows on your PC

Availability: Now

Blinkbox offers over 3,000 movies to watch on-demand, or download to keep on your PC. They also offer a decent selection of TV shows - some are free (including Peep Show, Shameless and even Morph), and the others can be watched online or downloaded. No wait time, and no need to install special software.

Given that some of their content is free - if you're OK to watch a short ad first, then it is a good choice and well worth a try.

See what Blinkbox offers at www.blinkbox.com.

Summary: Freeview and content downloaded over Broadband.

Availability: Now

A Freeview receiver, hard-disk recorder and on-demand content over Broadband. Service launched in November 2008. Subscription-free with access to BBC iPlayer. More on our Fetch TV page.

Summary: Watch live free-to-view channels on a PC.

Availability: Now

With a slightly misleading name, this service lets you watch 30 UK TV channels from your PC. Channels are all free-to-view in the UK. Sign up at www.tvcatchup.com.

You can also watch some Freeview channels live on your iPhone by going to iphone.tvcatchup.com from the iPhone web browser

Summary: Watch live TV from another location on a PC

Availability: Now

A slightly different solution, but a really useful one. If you have Broadband at home, with a Slingbox you can access your home TV setup and watch TV or recordings over the Internet. Great for if you're away from home and want to watch TV shows or recordings from your own home setup, or perhaps if you want to set your Sky+ box remotely.

For more, see our Slingbox page.

Summary: Selected content on your PC over Broadband

Availability: Now

Joost is from the voice-over-Internet firm Skype. This allows for personalised channels, and show discussion areas. Programming is supplied by TV networks and large content providers. You can sign up at www.joost.com.

Summary: TV content on your PC

Availability: Estimated March 2010

Access a back catalogue of TV shows on your computer. More details on our SeeSaw page.

Summary: Films over broadband on your PC

Availability: NOW

CinemaNow is a US-based legal movie download service. Launched in 1999, it is completely authorised by the major movie studios such as Disney, Fox, MGM, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. With CinemaNow, you can download movies via Broadband, legally.

Forget going to Blockbuster for your video rental, this online service lets you access movie on demand over broadband. 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.

For more details, go to www.cinemanow.com.

Summary: Adult content on your TV via Broadband

Availability: Now

Set-top box that connects to your TV and a broadband connection to offer multiple channels of 'specialist' content on a subscription basis.

Technical details on the Nookie TV Box page, or visit www.nookietvbox.com for more on the service.

Summary: Worldwide TV on your PC

Availability: Now

JumpTV has partnered with more than 180 television broadcasters from over 60 countries to provide live broadcasting of TV stations from around the world. If you're outside of your native country and are looking to keep in touch with TV from back home, it may well be worth looking at JumpTV.

More details at www.jumptv.com.

We've also heard of a couple of software applications that allow you to watch TV over a broadband Internet connection, with shows streamed from around the world.

If you're keen to try, take a look at PCShowBuzz (read our review) or NetSpan. Many of the TV channels available offered by these services can be accessed without these software applications, so before buying, you may want to visit www.webtvlist.com for a list of stations freely available.

Also, check out Zattoo for over 30 channels of TV, streamed live to a special Windows application for free - zattoo.com