Zattoo Streams European TV
By Christopher Nickson
April 01, 2008
A new service lets European residents stream terrestrial TV in their own countries live to their computers.
Zattoo has launched a service in several European countries that allows users to stream terrestrial TV channels from their own countries (plus a few others from abroad) to the computers.
The legal service uses a proprietary player, which is available as a free download, and works on both PC and Mac. Currently available in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK, the company has big plans to expand not only the number of countries included, but also the number of continents.
It works as a peer-to-peer network, with the watched program flowing from one computer to another. In the UK, viewers can catch a total of 29 channels, including all five terrestrials, BBC3 and BBC 4, Al-Jazeera, ABC News Now, as well as news from France and Germany and, most importantly for some, the Poker Channel.
Alexandra Illes, manager for Zattoo in the UK, said:
“People often have to compromise their viewing choices with other household members, such as their flatmates or partner,. Zattoo helps eliminate this as anyone with a computer and internet connection can watch TV via the internet. It's just like owning another TV."