Broadband News

Channel Five launches broadband TV service

Friday, 18 July 2008

By Garnet Roach garnet@consumerchoices.co.uk

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Channel Five has launched a new broadband catch up service called “Demand Five”, as the last of the major terrestrial channels to offer free, online television.

Demand Five will offer a range of free and paid-for programmes, with imported US shows such as CSI costing 99p to download for 48 hours, and most UK shows being available to download for free.

The overall quality of footage is rumoured to be better than competitors BBC iPlayer, Channel 4’s 4oD or ITV’s online service. It will also offer High Definition programmes at a higher cost of £1.99 per show.

Arash Amel, senior analyst and head of broadband media at Screen Digest, told The Guardian: “Five is the last of the UK's major terrestrial broadcasters to offer an online catch-up service and in some respects it is the most advanced service available.

“Video is higher quality than many comparable offers [and] it provides a good range of key US shows, and the integration of rating and reviewing provides a level of interaction that other services lack.”

However, since many of the more popular US shows have to be paid for, and the service currently only uses Windows Media Player 11 because of digital rights issues, Screen Digest said: “At least in the short term Demand Five is unlikely to see the sort of uptake that the iPlayer has enjoyed.”

Michael Phillips, BroadbandChoices.co.uk product director, said that while it was great that another broadcaster was offering its content online, consumers had to be careful about the amount that they download each month.

“Even if you’re on an ‘unlimited’ broadband package where you won’t automatically be charged for exceeding your limit, you’ll still be subject to a fair usage policy. With so much great quality content available on the net, many people will see their broadband speeds throttled in order to reduce the amount they can download, and if they regularly exceed their fair usage limit, they may also be asked to cut down on their downloading or switch to a more costly package.

“Use our free Broadband Download Monitor to keep an eye on your downloads and set alarms so that you never exceed your limit,” he advised.

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