Channel surfing

The BBC iPlayeris just the start of a revolution in the way we watch TV. Tim Walker casts his eye over what the internet has in store

Daytime television in Uzbekistan is semi-arid, like the climate. Today, there's an in-depth report on a trade fair for the fossil- fuels industry. In Chile, meanwhile, a man in a top hat made from aluminium foil is in the middle of a frantic telephone call as part of a show along the lines of Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway (non-Spanish speakers can deduce as much from the incessant laughter track). In Cte d'Ivoire, a Christian TV network is showing hammy adaptations of Bible stories. And back across the Atlantic in Suriname, a Shakira song is being used to advertise lager.

This snapshot of global culture is brought to you by the power of internet television (specifically, a minor website, in the global scheme of things, called wwiTV.com). Not only can you now watch those chumps off The Apprentice being told they're unfit to soil the sole of Sir Alan's shoe, but you can also tune in to channels that would otherwise be off-limits, from internet-only broadcasters like Canadian network VBS TV and Al Gore's Current News, to international operators covering, well, trade fairs and top hats.

The daddy of online broadcasting is the BBC iPlayer, which since its launch late last year has swallowed up between 3 and 5 per cent of all internet usage in the UK. More than 42 million programmes have been watched using the service. That seven of the top-20 shows were episodes of Torchwood (adding 10 per cent to the show's total viewing figures) says much about the net nerds drawn to internet TV, but then 100,000 also used it to watch the first episode of The Apprentice. The iPlayer appeals to a mass of people previously unimpressed by the web.

Now, iPlayer is available on television sets via the Nintendo Wii, which means that catching up on Mad Men no longer need be a solo experience. The corporation is in talks with Virgin Media about offering iPlayer through its broadcast platform. And some anonymous bright spark has also devised a way to watch iPlayer with a PlayStation 3 - with the BBC's tacit approval, if not their collaboration.

The iPlayer website is so popular that internet providers demanded the corporation help fund service upgrades to save the web from meltdown. They claim that if nothing is done to ease the strain placed on the network by so much video content, the internet may pack up altogether. Ofcom has estimated the cost of the necessary upgrades at 830m.

Later this year, the ISPs will have an even bigger blockage to squeeze through their pipes, with the arrival of Project Kangaroo. A joint venture between BBC Worldwide, Channel 4 and ITV, Kangaroo will be an archive site collecting content from the UK's four largest terrestrial channels, allowing viewers to catch up on their favourite shows even after the seven-day iPlayer window closes. Kangaroo will be a commercial concern, complementing iPlayer and 4 On Demand by offering a mix of ad-funded and pay-per-view content. It aims to do for online TV what Freeview did for digital.

According to industry experts, the BBC is pursuing a policy of "fewer, bigger, better" shows; the more viewers are freed from a rigid viewing schedule, the more flagship shows like The Apprentice and Doctor Who will be surrounded by an ocean of no-budget filler.

However, the iPlayer success of BBC3 shows like Torchwood and Gavin and Stacey is heartening, and suggests that niche programming has a home online, too. As well as watercooler TV - say, the last episode of Lost - Kangaroo will also carry a library of other, more niche series. A BBC spokesperson suggests The Mighty Boosh as an example of a leftfield show that appeals to an internet-savvy audience, and rewards repeated viewings.

"Project Kangaroo is potentially an even bigger watershed than iPlayer, because there are so many broadcasters involved," says Lisa Campbell, editor of Broadcast magazine. "They're in discussions with Channel Five and other broadcasters to join the party as well. But so far the structures of the television business aren't changing massively. Some major broadcasters have launched digital offshoots, but they're still quite few and far between."

While broadcasters inch ever in to the online arena, some big online players are edging towards television. Bebo, the social networking site used by ITV to virally market Gossip Girl, just generated the first web-to-TV leap with Sofia's Diary. Fiver, the new teen channel from Five, bought the online soap on the basis of its 500,000 Bebo views per episode - a ready-made audience that few broadcasters would turn down. Bebo's second televisual success is KateModern, another online soap, in which viewers can suggest where the action should lead next.

New online-only broadcasters are cropping up by the day, though few can match the quality of mainstream broadcasters. One exception is Al Gore's Current TV, which aims to serve as an "independent voice" for 18- to 34-year-olds who "want to learn about the world in a voice they recognise". Its short, viewer-generated "pods" of programming won the channel an Emmy for best interactive television service last year.