MUMBAI: Television may just be on its journey towards elevation with BBC launching its pilot project later this month that could lead to all television programmes being made available on the internet. This would essentially mean that viewers will now be able to scan an online guide and download any show. Programmes could be viewed on a computer screen or could be burned to a DVD and watched on a television set. Alternatively, programmes could be downloaded to a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a hand-held computer.

The man behind this revolutionary and progressive plan is Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of new media and technology. Speaking to the The Independent Highfield said, "If we don't enter this market, then exactly what happened to the music industry could happen to us, where we ignore it, keep our heads in the sand and everybody starts posting the content up there and ripping us off."

He also added that the quality of the programmes would be so high that the experience of watching a show on a PDA would be similar to viewing an in-flight film on screens on the back seats of passenger aircrafts.

By launching this project, BBC also hopes to avoid being left at the mercy of a software giant such as Microsoft, which could try to control the 'gateway to online television.'