Channel 4 goes on-demand

Video and audio content on request, eventually

Channel 4 has announced two new services; one providing access to current and old TV shows for downloading onto a PC, the other providing 4Radio content over The Cloud’s Wi-Fi network.

The deal with The Cloud will place a link to 4Radio in the home page of users connecting though a Cloud Wi-Fi hotspot. The content is optimised for the Playstation Portable, but users of other devices will see the same short-cut to 4Radio content, including Celebrity Big Brother coverage, from the January 3. The content will be free for the next couple of months, to test customer demand and establish what people might pay for it.

4 On Demand (4OD) is a download service offering access to films and Channel-4 TV shows to a Windows PC using Microsoft’s Media Player DRM. Individual episodes will set you back around a quid, while films start at £3. Celebrity Big Brother will be available for free, along with some episodes of popular series to get users comfortable with the system. You get a month to watch downloaded content, and 48 hours to finish watching once you’ve started.

The range of shows on 4OD is impressive, and we’d like to be able to tell you how well the service works; but with Drop The Dead Donkey only 1 per cent downloaded after 2 hours we’re concerned that the content might not arrive within the 1 month we have available to watch it.®