The
Olympics kick off this Friday with an opening ceremony that’s been put together
by feted movie director Danny Boyle and will no doubt prove spectacular. Once
that’s out of the way we can look forward to two weeks of top sporting action
with the best athletes in the world competing head to head. To get you in the
mood we’re running our Appylmpics – roundups of the best apps for making the
most of the Olympics. Today we’re awarding medals for the best TV streaming
apps. Who makes the podium? Read on to find out.
Medal: Gold
BBC iPlayer
Price: Free
Platforms iOS, Android
The BBC will be offering up to 24 live video streams from the Olympics via its official BBC Olympics app, but there will still be plenty of reasons to turn to the good old iPlayer app during this summer’s festival of sport. That’s because iPlayer will still have the best range of content available, including news broadcasts, documentaries as well as the usual mixture of drama and movies. And don’t forget it also supports streaming of radio shows as well as TV, for when you want to tune in, but aren’t in a position to watch video.
Medal: Silver
TVCatchup
Price: Free
Platforms: iOS, Android (beta)
TVCatchup is a great little app that allows you to stream live TV for a number of UK TV channels directly to your phone or tablet. Along with the likes of BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, the app also includes steams for More 4, Dave, BBC News and Sky News. You can watch the video either in a small video window or alternatively just double tap on the video window to make it full screen. There’s a limited TV guide to show you what’s on now and what’s coming up next and thanks to the Twitter integration you can quickly tweet about the show you’re watching.
Medal: Bronze
Sky Go
Price: Free for Sky Subscribers
Platforms: iOS, Android
Sky may have been a bit slow getting its digital strategy together, but once it got up and running it did so in style with this app which lets you watch the Sky channels that you’ve subscribed to from anywhere in the UK as long as you’ve got access to 3G or a Wi-Fi connection. This makes it great for keeping up with the sporting action when you’re on the move. The app is nicely designed too, with a clean and clear interface that makes it a doddle to use. There have been some issue with the Android version of the app, but Sky now seems to be getting on top of these with better support for ICS devices.
Tune in tomorrow for our pick of the best camera apps.
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
