I looked getting cable television when I moved to Sweden, but looking at the channels offerings I decided my money could be more wisely spent. What I really want is Hulu, but without some IP address voodoo magic, this is only available in the US and I still try to obey the law. But I also wanted something like BBC World News, which is what got me looking at cable in the first place.

Today I discovered Livestation, which gives users live access to BBC World News, Al Jazera and number of other television stations. It looks legal and legitimate, but I am no lawyer. I found it as a recommendation through either This Week in Tech or MacBreak Weekly.

Livestation was recommended as the future of TV. In addition to the traditional TV viewing feature, it also provides notifications (MSN style) if there is breaking news on one of your preferred channels. Also, when you start viewing a channel, you become connected to a chat room of people watching the same channel.

Every now and then I read the comments section on a controversial/provocative post on a blog/YouTube video/newspaper article/etc … And I am always disappointed at the level of “discussion”. It seems that basic comprehension skills are lacking in most people, but this doesn’t stop them sharing their opinion. My favourite ones start, “I didn’t read this article, but [insert bigoted slander here].” (I wonder if the same would happen in academia, as proposed by this PhD Comics cartoon.)

My first impression of the chat feature on Livestation was more positive, but the level of discussion was superficial to the point I wouldn’t bother. But I can see the potential for this kind of reality augmentation, if you can discuss a story with an expert or someone who is at the scene of an incident.

All in all I am very impressed with Livestation. It is available in all the traditional flavours – Linux, Mac and Windows. Now they just need to expand Hulu beyond the US border …