BBC to launch on-demand Web TV service

The BBC said on Wednesday that it would launch its on-demand Web television service on July 27, adding that it was in talks with numerous distribution partners. The service will allow broadband viewers up to 30 days to watch programmes they have downloaded for free within a week of transmission. The programmes, which will not have advertising, will automatically delete after being viewed. The BBC said in a statement that the on-demand service would become more widely available across the www.bbc.co.uk Web site as well as Google's YouTube and mobile services. The publicly-funded broadcaster said it was in talks with potential distribution partners such as MSN, Yahoo MySpace, Tiscali, and video search business Blinkx. Future services are expected to include streaming-on-demand so that users can watch a programme straight away and allowing users to download episodes from selected series retrospectively. Rival broadcasters in the UK such as ITV, BSkyB and Virgin Media have already launched their own on-demand services