iMP offers UK viewers the chance to catch up on TV and radio programmes they may have missed for up to seven days after they have been broadcast, using the internet to legally download programmes to their home computers.

A technical trial took place in Summer 2004 with a limited number of participants and a small amount of rights-cleared programmes to test the concept of using peer-to-peer technology and digital rights management (DRM) to protect rights holders.

As part of the next phase of iMP's development, the BBC will now open up more of its radio and TV schedule – around 190 hours of TV programmes and 310 hours of radio programmes, as well as local programming and rights-cleared feature films.

Five thousand people – from all over the UK – will take part in the pilot. They will be able to search for programmes they want to watch, filter programmes by channel, select subtitles and, in the case of some series, to collect and watch episodes that they may otherwise have missed.

The BBC will be working with Siemens Business Services, BBC Broadcast and Kontiki Inc. as part of the content trial. They will assist the BBC with the technical and playout elements of the service.

Ashley Highfield, BBC Director of New Media & Technology,says: "iMP could just be the iTunes for the broadcast industry, enabling our audience to access our TV and radio programmes on their terms – anytime, any place, any how – Martini Media.

"We'll see what programmes appeal in this new world and how people search, sort, snack and savour our content in the broadband world."

The news follows a presentation given last week by Ashley Highfield at Mediacast, in which he outlined the explosive uptake of broadband and the increasing numbers of people using the internet to access audio visual material.

He added, however, that take-up was in danger of stalling without the necessary content to attract audiences, the lack of which was due to issues with rights, distribution and navigation.

The BBC, Highfield explained, was looking to tackle these issues through services like Creative Archive and iMP, and called on the industry to do the same.