How are broadcasters currently coping? part 2

The BBC has the best of the on demand services in my opinion, with its iPlayer. The iPlayer is not only available to catch up on shows on your computer, but can also be streamed through Virgin's V+ box and a number of mobile devices.

Here is a short demo of it working on the V+ box:

The iPlayer is also available on the iPhone and the iPod Touch, which is pretty handy. Another short demo here:

It uses peer-to-peer technology to enable the distribution of large video files (i.e. TV programmes) to scale effectively. 

Once downloaded, the content is only playable within the iPlayer and digital rights management (DRM) software will prevent it being directly copied to another medium, though these limitations do not apply to viewers using the online streaming service.

I think this demonstrates effectively the harmonising between what is often deemed to be a negative or illegal technology and new modes of access.

There has been criticism levelled at the iPlayer's use of KService from Kontiki, the peer-to-peer application which continues to use users' bandwidth, even after the iPlayer has been shut down.

Because of this, users may be charged by their Internet service provider for exceeding their download limit or fair use policy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_iPlayer