Thanks to Hulu and the like, more and more TV shows are available on the Internet. But, now the UK’s Channel 4 is taking bringing network TV to the Internet to another level by bringing most of its program “available on demand, in full and free-of-charge via YouTube in the UK.”
According to Jamie Dolling, Community Editor for YouTube UK, “Channel 4 will shortly begin to upload full-length shows to YouTube, building towards early 2010 when a full catalogue of catch-up TV as well as around 3,000 hours of archive programming will be available – including shows like Skins, Brass Eye, Teachers and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.”
Channel 4 has long supported Internet TV, but this move will bring almost all its original content to YouTube viewers. Alas, as with the BBC iPlayer, you’ll only be able to watch these shows in the UK. Darn it!
I, for one, would pay good money to get real-time access to British television in the States over the Internet. That, alas, doesn’t appear to be in the works for any of the UK’s television networks.