Sky TV have rebranded the company's Anytime PC service as SkyPlayer.
Video streaming - as well as the current downloading - is now available following an overnight upgrade.
It means users will be able to start watching content almost instantly, rather than waiting for the whole show or movie to download.
It puts the satellite broadcasters servce on a par with the BBC iPlayer that also offers both streaming and download options.
In the past, Sky Anytime - then called Sky By Broadband - was plagued by account management and login problems but these have largely disappeared and it was given the thumbs up as one of the better quality download services currently available by DownloadMonkey testers in a recent review.
...the one website that will hold your hand as you step into the wonderful new world of TV on demand.
Legally downloading TV here in the UK has now reached that point where ordinary chimps like me have stopped messing about with Limewire and BitTorrent and started trying to have a go. We're supposed to be paying for quality and convenience. But you soon realise that trying to do the right thing is not nearly as easy as it looks. Too many problems, too much confusion. It's enough to make a good guy go bad...
Why? Well, one reason is this:
instead of getting their vastly overpaid heads together and coming up with an internet version of VHS, the corporate big boys* have sunk millions into their own systems.
Some are better than others, but they all work differently and some of them really don't play very nicely together. Cue frustration.
Then there's the content - the stuff we came for. Some of it's free, some of it comes with a subscription you already pay and some of it is pay per view or season pass. And then there's how long you can view it for. Seven days or 24 hours or... Agggghhh ok. ok. I get it already...
Continue reading Hello, and Welcome to Download Monkey......
There's a very interesting pice on the iPlayer in today's Media Guardian by the paper's former TV critic Gareth McLean. It's well worth a read in full.
And he's right - the iPlayer is changing the way that we all watch, consume and enjoy TV - and not just BBC programmes either.
While Sky Player, 4OD and (snigger) ITV.com are in competition with the iPlayer, they are also benefitting from the huge marketing muscle that was put behind the launch of the iPlayer (ok, the third launch of the iPlayer - but then nothng really works until version 3 anyway...). Every single BBC show on every BBC channel had an iPlayer promo. Perhaps someone who's a media buyer could put a value on that advertising for us - I certainly can't even begin to.
What the BBC has done in launching the iPlayer is shift the public consciousness. TV on demand, on a computer, in bed on a laptop, on the train on my iPod is now easy, convenient and fun (and not difficult, techie and hard). This is VoD for all of us however we chose to live our lives.
Gareth asks what's next for the iPlayer. The question should really be, what's next for the market that the iPlayer has created? And because here at Download Monkey we always like to come up with the answers to the questions you're asking, and while we already have reviews of the major VoD services, we're currently busy doing a head to head of the big key VoD players. We'll be looking mainly at the the things that we think now matter - ease of use, quality of picture and content available.
We'll try and make it as easy as possible to see at a glance which service it's right for you - ie: should you be spending any of your precious time even bothering with it? Because Gareth, that's where we go next with this. Mainstream...
2008's been a funny old year.
As we turn the corner into 2009, Virgin's talking about 50mbps broadband, Kangaroo is on the ropes and the dark cloud of credit crunch looms large over us all.
But if you look at the numbers, the rise and rise of downloading - both legal and illegal - is unstoppable.
iPlayer, SkyPlayer, ITVPlayer and Fiver have all made it easier to find and watch the TV shows we love while the ISPs are sending out warning letters to anyone who might be filesharing. No-one wants to be the first to start cutting people off though.
So the future looks bright, assuming that we've all still got jobs in six months.
DownloadMonkey hasn't been immune from the pressures facing all of us at this time. So we're going to kick off the new year by looking for a new site editor. They need to be able to write in something more than LOLspeak, passionate about all the things we care about here at DLM, able to handle a cool but simple CMS and be really keen to get involved in making this site hot hot hot. You'll be UK based and have ideas about extending the site and it's coverage. There's no money in it (at least for now) it's a labour of love, but DLM does have excellent contacts in the TV and online business - so they'll have plenty of support. If you think this sounds like you and you want to get involved, write something smart and post it here.
Hoping you all have a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Year.
The DLM team
Ashley Highfield has announced he's standing down as CEO of Kangaroo.
The proposed catch up service from BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 has sailed choppy waters since the former head of BBC Technology joined six months ago.
The move comes as yet another blow for project. It's currently under investigation from the Competition Commission and Highfield's departure follows that of Patrick Ugeux, ITV's director of Project Kangaroo in August.
Highfield is jumping ship to be MD and VP of consumer and online at Microsoft UK.
Highfield said: "It has been a great pleasure and challenge to take Project Kangaroo to the next stage of its journey. It is something I believe passionately in and I will remain a great ambassador for the project from afar as it continues on the road to becoming a brilliant proposition for consumers in this exciting market".