Talking of the BBC, and Christmas Day, the Beeb is set to launch its all new online on-demand web telly service, the iPlayer, on Christmas Day. The new version of the iPlayer plays through your browser using Flash, like YouTube, and so is, in theory, more user-friendly than the Beeb's previously released on demand web-TV service, which required an install. The new player is already available in beta form, though when I tried it the streams were faltering somewhat. Still, at least it works in Firefox, which is more than can be said for ITV.com's Microsoft based in-browser streaming service. You can test the beta BBC service for yourself at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/
As well as being available online, iPlayer will also be available via digital TV platforms. It will launch on the Virgin Media cable TV network in the New Year, which presumably means Beeb programmes will be available via a proprietary BBC on-demand service as well as via Virgin's own Virgin Central on-demand channel, though quite how it will all work I'm not sure. As previously reported, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 are also collaborating on a totally separate on-demand service called Kangaroo, which is also set to launch next year. It too will have BBC content on demand though it seems that the plan is that programmes will appear on the BBC iPlayer first, and then move over to Kangaroo.