Online catch-up TV service SeeSaw has made its premium service featuring paid-for TV shows available to web users. SeeSaw, a free service that uses the technology originally employed for the Project Kangaroo venture, announced in March it was planning to offer paid-for content. SeeSaw was made publicly available in February, after less than a month of a closed beta trial of 20,000 web users.
It offers around 3,000 hours of TV programmes from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five, and is similar to music-streaming service Spotify because the content available is peppered with 60-second adverts that can not be skipped. The premium service offers around 1,000 hours of paid for shows from broadcasters including Comedy Central, BBC Worldwide and MTV.
Individual show such as The Hills and Gavin & Stacey can be rented from as little as 99p each. Alternatively web users can pay for the entire series, with prices between 3.99 and 17.99, although it depends upon how many episodes the series is made up of and when it was first aired. Single shows can be rented for up to 30 days, although the user has 48 hours to complete watching the show from the first-time it is played.
Meanwhile, an entire series can be kept for 90 days, with a 48-hour window to watch each episode once viewing has started. "Going forward, we are confident that our blend of free and premium programming will enhance the appeal of SeeSaw to both viewers and advertisers," said chief executive of SeeSaw Pierre-Jean Sebert. Currently only TV shows are available on the premium service. However, SeeSaw confirmed it planned to make a number of movies available in the future.
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