Broadband Guide

How to download TV programmes

Updated: Tuesday 10 January, 2012

By Editorial - news@consumerchoices.co.uk

Streaming and downloading TV programmes is a great way to keep up with all your favourite shows - and even lets you catch up on programmes you’ve missed or watch an entire series in one go.

Using catch-up services

Free catch-up services like the BBC iPlayer or Channel 4’s 4oD have proved hugely popular with the BBC iPlayer receiving over 153 million hits in September 2011 alone.

These applications allow you to catch up on the last seven days of TV and radio as well as giving you access to entire series’ at a time and even paid for, on-demand movies from 4oD.

Catch-up on your TV

If you're a Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) digital TV customer you'll be able to enjoy free catch-up services direct to your TV, allowing you to catch up on everything that that BBC, ITV and Channel 4 has to offer.

Peer-to-peer software

Some services, such as Sky’s online Sky Player, use peer-to-peer (P2P) technology to deliver your content. This means that content is downloaded and uploaded from your PC to the Sky Player network to give all users a better experience.

However, this can slow your computer down - as the program is always running in the background - as well as eating into your download allowance. Check the settings of your download program to turn off P2P.

Even if you're not using a P2P service, downloading and streaming content from the internet will still count towards your monthly download allowance. If you’ve got a set download limit, you could end up being charged for exceeding your limit. Even if you’ve got an “unlimited broadband” download allowance, you may still be subject to a fair usage policy, and downloading too much could result in a slowed down, throttled connection.

• If you're using a P2P program, make sure you’ve turned off the P2P setting.
• Change the settings on your download manager so that your program doesn’t automatically start up when your PC turns on and doesn’t stay connected to the P2P network once you’ve closed it.
• Consider file sizes - most sites, including the BBC iPlayer will state the size of the files you can download. Keep an eye on how much you’ve downloaded to ensure that you don’t exceed your monthly usage limit.
• Use our free Broadband Download Monitor to track your downloads and set notifications so that you never exceed your monthly limit.
• Keep an eye on family members - a Broadbandchoices.co.uk found that 82% of parents rely on a verbal agreement with their children to control their behaviour online - yet 48% of children confessed to downloading music and photos that quickly increase your usage. Parents should certainly consider installing parental control software to track and restrict the sites that children can access.
• Try downloading over night. Some ISPs don’t count night time downloads against your allowance and programmes will also download faster as there’ll be less people on the network during off-peak hours. However, make sure you know what hours your ISP considers to be off-peak, sometimes these don't kick in until 2am.

Video: How to connect your laptop to your TV wirelessly

Download penalties

Even if you have an “unlimited” package, you may also have a fair usage policy, which that imposes penalties such as speed throttling for “excessive usage”.

ISP penalties include reducing connection speeds, restricting usage at peak times, or charging for excess usage. In extreme cases your ISP might even terminate your contract, cutting internet access until you can sign up to a new provider.

Programme availability

• Sky Player allows subscription customers to download and stream programmes from Sky, with shows available for a week after transmission.
• BBC iPlayer offers streaming and downloads of shows from the last seven days. If you download a programme, you'll be able to keep it for 30 days from when you start watching it.
• Channel 4’s 4oD offers the last 30 days of television to download or stream. It also offers entire series’ of shows.
• ITV Player has TV from the last seven days plus selected series’ to watch in full.

Illegal downloads

You should be very wary of illegal options for television programme downloads. As well as being illegal and often of poor quality, files can contain viruses, tracking cookies and other corrupt files that you definitely don’t want on your PC.

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