Tom de Grunwald

Zattoo is another of those funkily named web 2.0 applications - but this one is different, as rather than being a mashup or a social network, this is basically a television on your computer. It’s New Media does Old.

I’m currently watching a simulcast of the England football friendly against the USA: John Terry has scored, and despite the low resolution which makes it look a little like a football sim game, I’m enjoying the experience. In fact, I’m really pleased for him after a painful final against Manchester United!

Let me be clear; I pay the license fee with pride as I have come to greatly value the BBC’s contribution to society (and they commission some of our films), but the convenience and portability of an app like this make it much easier to keep in touch with the key programmes currently showing. I’ve been using the BBC’s iPlayer a lot since its launch on Christmas day 2007, and that is great for catching up, but Zattoo just might put some of the live and shared experience back into telly for me, and particularly as my USB card seems to have ceased working. This works, and well.

It is said that the business model is somewhat unstable, as essentially Zattoo is rebroadcasting channel’s output over IP; they may not get away with it for long - or may have to charge subscriptions in order to make financial arrangements with the broadcasters. The commercials, the idents are also streamed, and the application doesn’t facilitate downloading or time shifting, so you’d have to ask, apart from a loss of control, what’s for the broadcasters not to like?

Tags: Zattoo, Football, Simulcast, Application