TV over Internet – Ways to watch TV online

YouView launched in 2012 and combines Freeview and on-demand TV content.

The YouView service gives you access to a large library of on-demand TV shows and films. You can view on-demand content on your TV either on a pay-per-view basis or with a monthly subscription.

You can get a free YouView box from BT, and get access to 4 Freeview HD channels, plus a decent collection of movies in HD to watch via Broadband on your TV.

Availability: Limited to Cable TV areas

If you’re served by cable TV operator Virgin Media, take a look at their digital TV service as this offers a huge library of movies and programmes that you can access whenever you like in addition to your normal telly channels, with some content available in high definition.

With the Virgin Media On Demand service, you’re not tied to specific start times as the library of programmes and movies are always available.

For more details, go to www.virginmedia.com

Availability: Selected towns only

If you live in one of the areas served by TalkTalk TV, formerly Tiscali TV, you may be able to get their digital TV and video-on-demand service. TalkTalk TV is available in towns including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leicester, Stevenage, Milton Keynes, Wolverhampton, Salford and Warrington

This service uses your phone line to deliver around 80 TV channels to your home. You’re supplied with a special decoder box, and then have access to digital TV, plus other services.

TalkTalk TV offers over 1000 on-demand movies, over 5000 music videos, hundreds of TV series, and a TV rewind service.

More on TalkTalk TV on our Talktalk TV page or at talktalk.co.uk/tv.

A number of TV companies offer their TV shows for viewing or download online. They offer a “watch again” or “catch-up TV” service. Here’s a summary.

• BBC – The BBC’s iPlayer allows you to watch 7 days of BBC content for free on your PC – www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
• ITV – Streaming service over the Internet, offering 30 days of “catch-up TV” – www.itv.com/ITVPlayer
• Channel 4 – On demand service from a PC. Some content is pay-per-view. www.channel4.com/4od
• Channel 5 – Repeats of some of their shows on a PC. demand.five.tv
• Sky – Some Sky TV shows, plus movies are available on your PC with Sky Go. The service is free to Sky customers. www.sky.com/skygo

For more, see our Catch Up TV Summary page

Watch Sky TV without a satellite dish with Sky Go (formerly Sky Player). Packages available include Entertainment, Sky Sports and Sky Movies. No annual subscription required, and the service offers live and on-demand content over Broadband.

See our Sky Go page, or go to the Sky Go site for full details.

Summary: Stream video and TV to your telly

Apple TV is a small box from Apple that plugs into your TV and streams movies, TV shows plus content from iTunes. Supports wireless and HD!

More details on our Apple TV Information page.

Blinkbox offers over 10,000 movies and TV shows to watch on-demand, or download to keep on your PC. They also offer a decent selection of TV shows – some are free (including Peep Show, Shameless and even Morph), and the others can be watched online or downloaded. No wait time, and no need to install special software.

Given that some of their content is free (if you don’t mind sitting through an advert first), then Blinkbox is a good choice, and we’d encourage you to take a look. More on our Blinkbox page.

See what Blinkbox offers at www.blinkbox.com.

More well-known for their DVD-by-post rental service, in 2010, LoveFilm branched out into online movie rentals. Watch films on your PC, on an Internet-connected TV, or using a Playstation 3.

The choice of films and TV shows is decent, and when used in combination with their postal DVD rental service (with no late fees), this option is a good one for many film enthusiasts. We have more detail on how this works on our LoveFilm DVD and Online page.

More details on what the service offers at LoveFilm.com.

The huge American streaming service that is Netflix has finally come to the UK.

For a monthly fee of £5.99, watch all the movies and TV you want on your computer, games console, Internet TV, mobile phone or tablet computer.

An impressive line-up of shows – this is set to be a serious rival to Amazon’s LoveFilm.

More details at www.netflix.com, or on our dedicated Netflix UK Review page.

This service is Sky’s rival to Netflix and LoveFilm. Now TV offers access to movies from the Sky Movies channels without the need for a dish or a long-term contract. The service is available for PC, Mac, tablets, games consoles and on YouView.

See our Now TV page, or go to www.nowtv.com for full details.

iTunes, the software from Apple, has now got some deals in place to allow TV shows to be bought and downloaded on demand. BBC shows are available now, as well as US TV shows like Lost, South Park, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.

Go to www.apple.com/itunes to see what’s on offer.

With a slightly misleading name, this service lets you watch 30 UK TV channels from your PC. Channels are all free-to-view in the UK. Sign up at www.tvcatchup.com.

You can also watch some Freeview channels live on your iPhone by going to iphone.tvcatchup.com from the iPhone web browser

A slightly different solution, but a really useful one. If you have Broadband at home, with a Slingbox you can access your home TV setup and watch TV or recordings over the Internet. Great for if you’re away from home and want to watch TV shows or recordings from your own home setup, or perhaps if you want to set your Sky+ box remotely.

For more, see our Slingbox page.

JumpTV has partnered with more than 180 television broadcasters from over 60 countries to provide live broadcasting of TV stations from around the world. If you’re outside of your native country and are looking to keep in touch with TV from back home, it may well be worth looking at JumpTV.

More details at www.jumptv.com.

If you’re keen to try, take a look at PCShowBuzz (read our review) or NetSpan. Many of the TV channels available offered by these services can be accessed without these software applications, so before buying, you may want to visit www.webtvlist.com for a list of stations freely available.

Also, check out Zattoo for over 30 channels of TV, streamed live to a special Windows application for free – zattoo.com