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Thu, 15 Oct 2009 TVcatchup.com enables live UK TV on iPhone over 3G or WiFi (Updated)

tvcatchup.com debuts iPhone optimised site for TV viewing

Andy Penfold

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A new online service for the iPhone has emerged that allows you to watch live television via a QuickTime player in Safari. The iPhone site come from tvcatchup.com which also has a desktop site that allows you to watch TV on your computer.

The service, which can be found at http://iphone.tvcatchup.com, is in beta, and currently offers 11 channels - BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, ITV2, Channel 4, Five, BBC Three, Film4, E4, More4, and 4Music.

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The desktop site (http://www.tvcatchup.com) has more channels, and the company says in its forums that it is working on bringing more channels to the iPhone site. The Desktop site requires that you register to watch; at this time it is not necessary to register to use the site on the iPhone.

It works over 3G and WiFi. We have contacted the company for more information, so stay tuned to www.macwold.co.uk for the latest.

Adam Smith, Business Development, TVCatchup told Macworld this afternoon. "The TVCatchup service is independent in that we are not affiliated with any broadcaster. We have developed everything in house."

"The channels our service carries are licensed where necessary and the current selection is a small representation of the broadcasters we are working with. We are on target to have close to 100 channels on the service by the end of the year, including non free-to-air content."

"Not all of these channels are cleared for iPhone, but we will definitively be improving on the current 11 channels. The service - website and mobile - is cleared only for UK distribution."

Watch live TV channels on your iPhone with iphone.tvcatchup.com

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Comments received


Mark Hattersley said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Can't believe how well this works. We're trying to find out if its supported by the companies or is an independent effort. But it's well worth checking out.

Ian Steel said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Very interesting but odd on my iPhone.
If I visit the link posted via my Twitter client it works. But, if I use safari and type in the website address it appears ok, but then errors when clicking on any channel.

Rik Taylor said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

This is the best website ever.....it works perfectly.

Where is the catch?

It can't be legal..I will carry my TV licence with me just in case!

vader said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

looks pretty spunky, how do the licence idiots react to this?
still looking forward to an iplayer app although i did notice that i can watch programmes on the bbc site via quicktime...

Rik Taylor said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Had looked into it and as long as you have a TV licence then this site is completley legit.

Although watching TV will probably breech your agreement with 02 as you are not allow to stream live TV over 3G

Rik Taylor said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Had looked into it and as long as you have a TV licence then this site is completley legit.

Although watching TV will probably breech your agreement with 02 as you are not allow to stream live TV over 3G

Kevin said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

It is brilliant!!!

Elia Pace said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

UNBELIEVABLE! I can't believe this is not gonna get pulled by someone, somewhere! Works 100% spot on so far via Wi-Fi.

Eddie said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Am I missing something? Works great on the desktop, but my iPhone calls for Adobe Flash, and then won't download it. How do you watch on iPhone?

@Eddie said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Dunno mate, mine worked straight away, haven't tried the desktop version. Are you sure you entered the address properly?

Eddie said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Its the old story about reading the instruction afterwards. Of course, I missed the <iphone.> bit

Doh..

Eddie said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Am I missing something? Works great on the desktop, but my iPhone calls for Adobe Flash, and then won't download it. How do you watch on iPhone?

Eddie said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

now, I didn;t say that again!

Chris D said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

This is staggeringly good! It starts instantly and is crystal clear! I can't normall get radio to stream smoothly over 3G so I don't know how these guys get TV to stream so well. And it's free....what's the catch again?

Chris D said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

Anyone know if this is using HTTP live streaming? Or is it just quicktime streaming? It can't be proprietary because it just works in Safari without any software or plug-ins.

Angus said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

You must make sure you use iphone.tvcatchup.com/ URL on iPhone and it works

peterdev said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

unreal, this is the best, plug the phone into my tv and finally have a good reception of 6 more channels! unbelievable...

alloneword said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

no sound on CH5

alloneword said on Thu, 15 Oct 2009

no sound on CH5

nom said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

@alloneword

we heard you the first time

(sorry couldn't resist)

nom said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

actually, like alloneword, I have no sound on one channel but it's ITV2 for me - channel 5 sound is okay for me right now
seem to be some glitches but overall it's an incredible app and makes announcements from C4 re YouTube seem pretty irrelevant

alloneword said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

There is, now, sound on CH5 (There is, now, sound on CH5). Thanks.

Ammi said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Use it to watch the re-runs of last night's Watchdog.

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/2009/10/iphone_goes_into_a_coma.html

vader said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

why don't they use an app for this? i seem to ge better streaming through an app rather than safari....

vader said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

err...just tried it on the touch..works perfect! eh? how?....this is the devils work i tell you...

Dragonfly said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Pretty good, how is it funded ? I guess you'll need to pay to login eventually ?

@Ammi said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Good old Watchdog. On the ball as ever.

A solid week after Apple issues a fix for a problem it reports on it; instead of the other - much bigger and more pertinent problem - about Mac OS X SL losing the user directory.

Guess they're desperate for ratings after they lost 700,000 viewers last month by inaccurately reporting on the PS3 Yellow Light issue.

www.mcvuk.com/news/35829/BBC-defends-Watchdog-report

vader said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

place your bets - this will be subscription only within 6 months...i'd pay but then need a battery as big as a sofa...

Lyn said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

When I type the address into Safari it returns with a message telling me that the site is only for the iPhone! Why is it not recognising that it is an iPhone!

Lyn said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

When I type the address into Safari it returns with a message telling me that the site is only for the iPhone! Why is it not recognising that it is an iPhone!

Yogi Baird said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Definite Wow! Simple and devastatingly effective. Huge potential, will definitely throw the cards up in the air. I do think it intuitively would make more sense as an app than a Safari bookmark tho...

@@Ammi said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

"A solid week after Apple issues a fix for a problem" and people still have the problem.

@@@Ammi said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Wrong!! - they have different problems.

Ding Dong said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

I can't believe it works over 3G! I wonder whether O2 will block this eventually ....

Pobanski said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Good idea, can't see this staying free though. Also aspect ratios are all over the place. Could do with 4:3 programmes being displayed correctly otherwise older content will look naff.

Yogi bared said on Fri, 16 Oct 2009

Incidentally it seems to run about 40 seconds behind 'real' telly. Still can't quite believe it works so well for a beta.

SquareEyes said on Tue, 20 Oct 2009

This works just great! If Apple would get that darn Flash integrated into Safari we would be able to watch even more channels. Bad on you Apple cos as nice as the iPhone looks, as a phone and in several other respects it sucks and is way behind the times!

Jordy said on Wed, 28 Oct 2009

I contacted the guys who develop this in there forum and asked if they would add a TV Guide to it... I got this reply...
"There will be a TVGuide in the Apple app which will be hopefully released soon". An app is on the way.... see the forum post here: forums.tvcatchup.com/showthread.php?t=4913

John[AT]Wowza said on Sat, 14 Nov 2009

It is not QuickTime streaming. Press release describing solution in news section on our site: wowzamedia.com -- you can now deliver your h.264 content to Safari also.

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