Don't look now, but it seems that three rivals in the UK have found enough love in their hearts (or promise for profitability) to team up for the good of the consumer. Reportedly, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 will be joining hands in order to deliver an on-demand service that hopes to "bring together hundreds of hours of television programs in one place" -- a collaborative effort once known as Project Kangaroo. Of course, the grand idea still has to be approved by the BBC Trust and other broadcasters' boards, and an official name for the service still has to be thought up, but at least the wheels are apparently turning, right? We're hearing that content from the trio will be available for "free download, streaming, rental and purchase via the internet, with expansion onto other platforms planned," and just in case you were curious, the iPlayer, ITV's catch-up service and Channel 4oD will indeed coexist with the new aggregator. Hang tight UK, the to-be-named service is set to go live sometime next year should things pan out nicely.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

Nah, it's not quite ready for your iPhone (or OS X at all, to be frank), but the BBC iPlayer has officially launched. The online TV service will go head-to-head with rivals 4OD and ITV, and according to director general Mark Thompson, the launch of iPlayer "is as big a milestone as the arrival of color TV." All exaggeration aside, the service will allow viewers to "download a selection of programs from the last seven days and watch them for up to 30 days afterwards," and of course, all files are not only laced in DRM, but will automatically delete themselves after they are viewed or after 30 days have passed. Currently, a fixed number of people will be able to sign up, with the numbers increasing throughout the year, and while it only operates in Britain on Windows XP systems using IE 6 or later, the BBC's Ashley Highfield has stated that hopes are for the iPlayer to "become a universal service available not just over the internet, but also on cable and other TV platforms, and eventually on mobiles and smart handheld devices."

[Via BBC]

While Sony's PSP hasn't seen all of the bizarre add-ons and proposed features become reality, there are quite a few that have indeed been realized, and just in case those PSP Spot downloads aren't keep you blokes in England happy, we've got one more reason that it pays to tote around that handheld. The Cloud, a major wireless hotspot provided in Europe, has teamed up with Channel 4 Radio to deliver 4Radio programming to PSP users via WiFi. Purportedly launched to coincide with the beginning of Celebrity Big Brother, PSP users who come into a Cloud coverage area will have access to a special link on the browser's landing page that will connect them to the radio content free of charge, but browsing other sites will unfortunately require you to pony up for the convenience. Moreover, users can even access and download 4Radio podcasts, so you won't miss a single show for the rest of, um, the next two months, as that's when this svelte promotion is (sadly) scheduled to cease.

[Thanks, Jake]

While major networks have started rebroadcasting episodes of their hit shows online, it looks like the UK's Channel 4 is taking the lucrative approach to offering up shows on the internet by launching its (PC only) 4oD video on demand service. Sure, remembering to set your precious DVR to capture those oh-so-priceless episodes of your SO's favorite shows is the ideal scenario, but Channel 4 is apparently hoping that your forgetful nature (and lackluster work firewall) will bring you over to its site in search of satisfaction. Inking a deal with PACT, the trade body of the independent production companies, the company will be splitting a currently undisclosed amount of the profits, but will be offering up commercial-free (at least initially) rebroadcasts of the past 30 days of programming. Additionally, "over 1,000 hours" of archived material will be available for download, and users will also be graced with "two free shows" per week just for stopping by. Episodes will run £0.99 ($1.96), where they can be viewed for two days, after which the file will "automatically delete itself" (until hackers figure out a way to save them, that is), while "films" will demand £1.99 ($3.93).

[Via Digital Lifestyles]