Channel 4's on demand service is live today

6 December 2006 15:42 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Channel 4's catch-up service has gone live today, and is featured as Pocket-lint's website of the day.

It's offering all of its home-grown content for download for the reasonable price of 99p for up to 30 days after transmission, to allow you to catch up if you missed your favourite show.

Some imported shows, like Desperate Housewives, are also being offered.

Sadly, the option is only available for PC owners, as the 4oD application is not Mac-friendly.

Channel 4’s CEO told The Times that he predicts within 5 years, a third to a half of all viewing would be on-demand and time-shifted, either through download services or devices like Sky+.

The channel has invested millions in the new scheme, and hopes to start introducing ads at some point to help reach the goal of making the operation profitable by the third year of operation.

Channel 4 isn’t the only one getting in on the Internet act. The BBC is waiting for Governors to approve a plan to make the last week’s programming available to watch for free online; ITV is lagging behind and may launch an internet download service by next spring.

Full tags

Home Cinema, Video on demand, Channel 4, BT, Universal, HBO