“The pilot is part of the BBC’s plans to eventually offer more than a million hours of TV and radio from its archive. Our audience increasingly want and expect to dictate how, when and where they get our services,” he told the conference.” said BBC’s Future Media boss Ashley Highfield. He said the corporation’s end ambition was “one day enabling any viewer to access any BBC programme ever broadcast via their television”, and highlighted the need to bridge the divide between TV and content with online connections.

The test phase will make available about 1000 hours of content from various TV and radio programs. About 50 hours will be made available to the public to give everyone a sneak peak at what is to come.

I think that this is a great opportunity for everyone living in the UK to get some free TV on your computer and eventually help shape the service into a viewer friendly one. The trial will also be used to determine the line between free and paid content. If you thought everything will be available free you must have been a bit delusional.

Apply at the official BBC Archive site if you like.