Channel 4 is set to dump its clunky 4oD application in favour of an iPlayer-style browser-based catch-up service for all online programming.
Catch-up programming for shows from the last 30 days was moved to a Flash-based browser system at channel4.com in April, but the three-year-old 4oD download service continued to run.
The move to streaming video has been a huge success, increasing 4oD viewing by 111 per
cent within a month, and extending the service to both Mac and Linux
users.
From July, the 4oD application will be dumped and the new service will be entirely funded by advertising, instead of the download fees currently charged on shows older than 30 days.
Jon Gisby, director of future media and technology at Channel 4, said: "We were the first broadcaster to launch a comprehensive video-on-demand service in 2006 and since that time 4oD has become one of the UK's most popular VOD brands.
"The addition of archived content to 4oD on channel4.com means we will be the only UK broadcaster to have all of our content available online."
Archive shows now available free will include Queer As Folk, Trigger Happy TV and Drop The Dead Donkey.
The 4oD application was pioneering in its time, but it was unpopular with some users because it used Kontiki's peer-to-peer file-sharing system, which runs constantly in the background, while other users were discouraged by on-demand prices from 99p to £1.99 for movies.
However, this does mean the end of downloading Channel 4 shows to your laptop before you go out of the country so you have something decent to watch in flight.
