Question of the week: what’s your favourite TV catch-up service?

6 October 2010 Rob Buckley Technology, UK TV 6 Comments

On Friday, the results of a survey into UK online TV catch-up services was announced. The Beeb’s iPlayer service came out top, Sky’s Sky Player bottom (yes, even ITV’s beat it). So this week’s question of the week is:

Which online TV catch-up service do you like best and why? And do you have a least favourite?

Mine, for what it’s worth, is the iPlayer, because

  1. You can access it everywhere – on an iPhone, an iPod in a web browser
  2. You can access it on the Wii, which means I can watch it on the tele
  3. It’s easy to find things and it’s well linked to within the BBC web site as well
  4. It has more or less everything, so you know that the chances are you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for 9 times out of 10 and not be wasting your time

In comparison:

  • The Sky Player sucks since it’s hard to use, doesn’t have much content, you can’t use it on iPhones, etc, and you have to link it to specific machines (up to five IIRC). At least it works on a Mac though.
  • ITV’s is awful but that’s mainly because of the programmes on it – although it actually has relatively few programmes.
  • 4oD I’m mixed over. Not usable on iPhones, etc, but does have a huge amount of content. If I could view it on my TV, that would be peachy but even though it’s available via YouTube now, it doesn’t show up on my Apple TV. Damn.

But how about you?

And yes, Americans and anyone else with their own catch-up services can answer this one.

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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