iPhone TV Catchup

October 15, 2009 in Mobile Apps by David John

Imagine a TV streaming service completely designed and optimised for iPhone and iPod Touch users. Imagine all the main UK TV channels, BBC 1, BBC2, Channel 4 etc available live in your hand on any wireless network. Well imagine no longer as iPhone TVcatchup.com has released a beta of their dedicated iPhone streaming service.

catch

The service is simple to use, load up mobile Safari and visit http://iphone.tvcatchup.com the bad news for some readers is the service is only available in the UK.

iPhone users who reside outside of the UK trying to access the site will be informed they are “not authorized” to view the content. This isn’t anything special to this application as Plex (read our favourite Plex apps here) users have seen this sort of country specific access on content for a few years now.

Obviously the service is clearly still in beta so it isn’t fair to be too critical. Initial impressions though are very positive, both the audio and picture quality are stunning.

The streaming feed appears to be around 15-20 seconds behind the broadcast version which is particularly impressive given we are viewing the TV in a web browser.

I did encounter a few problems with buffering (especially on Channel 4 for some reason). The feed would play perfectly for a five or ten minutes and then began to cut out. This could be a mix of the popularity of such a great new service or something as simple as my device polling email resulting in reduced bandwidth.

I tried to access the service over GPRS and although it allowed me to connected and attempted to buffer the content I couldn’t get it to play. This comes as no big surprise due the bandwidth hungry as I didn’t even expect to even get to the loading stage.

catch1

With Elgato’s EyeTV App for iPhone (read our review) for your home iPhone TV viewing there now isn’t a single excuse for missing your favourite TV programme.

Links:

TVCatchup iPhone

Update :

TV Catchup is now available for the Apple iPad. Read more here. To keep up to date on TVCatchup developments follow us on Twitter : @Totalapps

50 Comments

October 15, 2009 at 10:57 am | Harry Atkins

Does anybody know if this works outside of the UK? because I live in france and when I try to load any one of the channels it says “You are not authorized to open this file” is this a region problem? or is it just some BETA problems?
October 15, 2009 at 11:08 am | David John

Harry, that is a regional issue. The channels are only available in the UK.
October 15, 2009 at 11:44 am | Harry Atkins

Thanks, I guess I’ll wait until there’s one that works for the whole of Europe
October 15, 2009 at 10:49 pm | Julien

In Australia, Telstra released on 13/10 Mobile Foxtel, a service that stream to your iPhone all Foxtel content live. Foxtel is the local cable company owned at 50% by Telstra. Full access costs AU$ 18 monthly. Telstra’s 3G was voted the fasted network in the world at the Barcelona Telco conf. No delay, high quality video and of course it doesn’t eat your data plan. Brilliant. I watch manly BBC news and Eurosport!
November 4, 2009 at 11:33 am | Tez

Hi,
I’m trying to view this in the UK but I’m getting the “not authorised” pop up, any ideas?
Tez
November 10, 2009 at 10:22 pm | Matt

Yeh I have the same problem, I have also searched for it on iTunes and nothing comes up?
November 23, 2009 at 2:11 pm | john

i managed to get the tv catchup app on my i phone and it was working great. then tried to use the app again. it did not work . i deleted the app and tried to get it again on iphone tvcatchup.com , the page that comes up say fatal error and it will not conect, can you offer any suggestions

thanks
November 23, 2009 at 5:26 pm | David John

John, it is not an app it is a website http://iphone.catchuptv.com ?
November 24, 2009 at 5:12 pm | Tony

Ive actually been using this website to stream live tv programs this morning.
Now i tried to do it again.. i,m getting a message on my phone.
“Cannot Open Page
Safari could not open page because the server stopped responding”.
Its been like this for the last 5hrs..
Has anybody any answers to this , and does it occur regularly..
Thanks in advance
Tony..
December 7, 2009 at 6:14 pm | Russ

Have visited the TV Catchup.com website on my new iPhone (3gs), but keep getting the error message “Adobe Flash Player – Flash Player not available for your device”, when clicking on one of the channel icons.

It goes on to say:- “Apple restricts use of technologies required by products such as flash player”.

I am in the UK, in a WiFi zone (at home) and blessed with common sense.

Any suggestions ?
December 8, 2009 at 9:49 pm | mike

@Russ

mate, you have to use iphone.tvcatchup.com
December 10, 2009 at 2:39 pm | Russ

Hi Mike,

Derrrr, guess I wasn’t given as much common sense as I thought….heh heh. Tried your advice…. works “perfectly”. What a star.

Cheers buddy.
December 15, 2009 at 7:54 pm | simon

Hi All,

i try the website on my iphone however when i try choose a channel it goes to a white screen saying error streaming?? can anyone help?
December 15, 2009 at 10:09 pm | Lee

I’ve been on iphonetvcatchup when I select a channel it just comes up with some random code at the top of the screen?
December 16, 2009 at 10:16 pm | Simon

Hi lee,

yes mine is the same all channel does not work at all, our iphonr need update??
December 28, 2009 at 5:12 pm | Vicky

Hi I have gone on to the website and every icon comes up with white screen with writing at the top any suggestions on how to make it work as I have the new iPhone 3gs

Thankx
January 4, 2010 at 11:35 am | Richard

Saw the queries on iphonetvcatchup on selecting a channel it just comes up with some random code at the top of screen and followed the advice from Russ. Still same ‘error’
Once the station icons are on screen , I touch? or is there more to it?
Thanks for any assistance
richard
January 4, 2010 at 3:19 pm | Richard

problem solved
‘plug ins’must be ON
January 19, 2010 at 6:50 pm | Christina

Hiya, can someone please help me with the iphone.tvcatchup.com app? It comes up with an error message as soon as I select a channel to watch saying ‘this movie could not be played’…any ideas?
January 22, 2010 at 9:18 am | Ellie

Hiya i’v the same problem with the random code comin up too, I saw u said ‘plug-ins’ must be on, where do u turn them on though??
Thanks again
January 22, 2010 at 11:03 pm | Colin

Loaded catch up tv for my iPhone 3g but when I choose a channel I takes a long time to load and when it does start playing a program i can watch about 3 seconds and then it go’s off and trys to reconnent to the channel which could take up to 3 to 5. Mintues
January 23, 2010 at 11:25 am | john

hi can anybody help i have a 3gs phone and when i log in to the web page i get the choice of all the channels but when i go into them i only get 5-10 seconds at a time then it says loading movie for a few minutes then another 5-10 saconds
January 25, 2010 at 9:43 am | Simon

Hi ellie

you need goto settings, safari and plug in is on there.
January 25, 2010 at 7:17 pm | Christina

Hiya, my plug ins are switched on but the app still doesn’t work. I managed to make it work when I’m connected to my wireless network at home but once I’m out of the house the app wouldn’t work. It now at least loads up but after 3-5 seconds it goes to a white screen and switch itself off…..any other ideas? Thanks.
January 30, 2010 at 11:32 am | william

great advicere plug-in @ Simon 25/1, mine now works. Does anyone know how to get an an app-icon on the phone’s screen or must i alsways log on via safari? Cheers,
January 30, 2010 at 3:13 pm | Daniel Ian Walker

Hi william just press the + botton when tv catch up menu is on then select add to homescreen .
February 3, 2010 at 8:51 pm | david

hi guys and girls.
ive just found out about this, and was wondering if you can put it on your iphone instead of just going on the internet everytime?
for instance a short cut on the Iphone to the website?
any ideas
cheers.
David
February 4, 2010 at 9:28 pm | Shane

Does anybody know just how much data transfere is used while watching these streamed channels?
February 12, 2010 at 2:14 pm | Jonny

Hey can anyone help, iv signed up and it seems to work fine but I can’t find the app for it, or do I have to view it through safari!? Thanks x
February 14, 2010 at 10:56 pm | William

Hi can anybody help I have a new 3gs phone and when I log in to the web page I get the choice of all the channels but when I go into them I only get 5-10 seconds at a time then it says loading movie for a few minutes then another 5-10 saconds seen this question before but no answer??
February 24, 2010 at 5:22 pm | ajwnew

to add tv catchup as an “apparent” app on the home page – click the + , as if you were adding a bookmark, but then click “add to home screen”. Tv catchup even provides you with an Icon – you just accept it by clicking ‘add’.
Saves you going through safari everytime.
February 26, 2010 at 12:00 am | Lou

Hi even though iv created a user name and password I still can’t get onto the iPhone catch up channells. It says I’m not logged in?any ideas my plugins is on?!
March 7, 2010 at 3:40 pm | Jay

Hi

The webpage loads up fine and all icons appear, how ever when I click a programme icon a message appears stating ‘Safari cannot download file’ any ideas??

Thanks
Jay
March 9, 2010 at 8:51 am | Kath

I tried to sign up using AOL email and it said ‘email not valid’. Any ideas on that one anybody? Email is in use and has been for years and was correctly spelled.
March 9, 2010 at 2:16 pm | Mogie

I have logged in to tvcatchup but when I select a channel it briefly shows the quicktime symbol then disappears and I’m left with a black screen. What am i doing wrong. Plug ins is on Help please. i am standing next to my friend who is able to watch tv instantly?
March 9, 2010 at 2:28 pm | Richard

Then follow this:
1. Close the TVCatchup Tab, in your iphone Safari Browser.
2. Close Safari
3. Go to Settings->Safari
4. Ensure that Javascript and Plug-Ins are Enabled. (Turn them OFF and ON again) 5. Ensure that “Accept Cookies” is set to “From Visited” or “Always”
6. Click “Clear History”
7. Click “Clear Cookies”
8. Click “Clear Cache”
9. Turn your iphone completely OFF for a few moments, then turn it back on again.
——-
10. Open Safari Browser
11. As to Step 1, TVCatchup should be closed. So now type “http://iphone.tvcatchup.com”
12. Click the “Login” button
13. Enter Username
14. Click “Next”
15. Enter Password
16. Click “Done” on top (Not “Go” on bottom) 17. Click on the Orange “Login” button.
18. The page should now refresh and say “Logged In As USERNAME” in Orange at the top?
19. Watch TV
March 9, 2010 at 3:00 pm | Mogie

Thank you so much…that worked a treat. now happily watching some rubbish daytime tv!
March 20, 2010 at 1:58 am | MD

Hi i have a iphone 3g 8gb new model, i seem to be having the same problem others have had but mine wont be fixed!. I have ensured plug-ins and java are enabled (and checked this by playing videos on you tube – quick time loads and plays them fine). I have followed the steps above several times aswell, I can go to the webpage login etc but when i click a channel it just goes to a blank white screen with the codes in the address bar (presumemably trying to load the page, when i refresh nothing happens). This occurs on both wifi and 3G, I have strong signals and fast speeds otherwise.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks
April 5, 2010 at 9:23 pm | Yusuf

Mime say download failed whenever i click the channel
April 15, 2010 at 12:26 am | danny

everytime i try to go to the website on the computer and ipod (i live in the uk) it says “safari could not open the page because the server stopped responding”

i have tired everything you guys have said from turning the plug-in and rebooting etc… please help!!!!
April 21, 2010 at 6:06 pm | Matthew

I’m getting exactly the same problem – I’ve done everything listed on all the tutorials and as soon as I choose a channel, that’s as far as I can go. After a couple of minutes I get the “server stopped responding” message.

I’ve got a 3rd gen iPod Touch with 3.1.3 software version. I am on Talktalk broadband (think this is supported).

Anyone got any ideas?
April 26, 2010 at 7:27 pm | Belch

What about data usage? Anybody has an idea what would be the data usage, say for 30 mins of watching on the iphone?
May 26, 2010 at 10:50 pm | Ang

MY friend downloaded the tvcatchup app to hes iphone but i cant do it? does anyone know how it works?
June 8, 2010 at 11:29 pm | Jamieoconnell

So can u getthis as a app saved on ya iPhone for quick access
July 7, 2010 at 10:01 am | Dean

How or is there an app for watching missed tv, like the first programe of top gear.

Cheers
July 7, 2010 at 10:06 am | David John

The best and legal way is an EyeTV device by Elgato. Works really well http://www.totalapps.net/?s=eyetv
July 21, 2010 at 8:06 am | Nick

I can’t get tv catchup on my iPhone 3gs
July 21, 2010 at 8:18 pm | suka

hi does anyone know how you get the catch up tv icon on my iphone home page please.
its a good app but a pain that its not on the home page
July 27, 2010 at 11:09 pm | pete

im getting the quicktime logo come up for a split second then the screen goes black!!
August 4, 2010 at 9:48 pm | alan chapman

Hey I got it on my phone but am deaf i like use subtitle cant get it on tv catchup how get it pls help

thank