Last week we provided the BBC with some interesting data illustrating how UK Internet visits to Social Networks and Forums have overtaken Adult websites. As the chart below illustrates, social networks overtook last October and have remained ahead since.

London - Project Kangaroo, a Web video-on-demand joint venture in the works from U.K. broadcasters the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, has been criticized by the U.K.'s Competition Commission for potentially restricting competition, The Register reported.

London - The BBC plans to update its iPlayer TV catch-up download service with a new feature that allows downloads to mobile devices, MocoNews reported. Previously, the BBC offered streaming TV for mobile phones, but new digital rights management (OMA DRM 2.0) means that downloads are now being added. However, the iPhone may not be included, as Apple doesn't support OMA 2.0 or license its own DRM.

London - Project Kangaroo, a TV video-on-demand joint venture proposed between U.K. broadcasters BBC, ITV and Channel 4 that was slated to launch in the fourth quarter, has seen its launch date delayed while the U.K. Competition Commission extends its probe of the service.

That’s what I’m talking about! Like nine million other Britons, the Hitwise UK office has been slightly obsessed with The Apprentice over the last few months. We were pleased to see peoples’ choice Lee McQueen crowned winner last night, although we do have sympathy for the runner up and favourite, Claire Young (I wonder if she’ll take up that job offer from Karen Brady?). In addition to the reverse pterodactyl and Clurr, our other favourites included thespian Raef (also the viewer’s favourite - ‘raef’ and ‘raef bjayou’ were the top contestant search terms sending traffic to the programme’s homepage over the last 4 weeks); Lady Lucinda Ribenaberet; Kevin, the only gay in the Italian restaurant; and of course Surallen himself. Naturally, we weren’t so keen of on the evil trinity of Alex, Michael and Jenny.

London - The BBC, whose board recently criticized the U.K. broadcaster's website as being too costly, has announced plans to put all of its TV channels online for streaming to U.K. residents, Variety reports. The company has already launched a download service for its programs called iPlayer, and placed BBC3 and some digital channels online, but expects to add BBC1, BBC2, BBC4 and children's channels CBeebies and CBBC online by the end of the year.

The launch of Freesat, the free satellite TV service provided by the BBC and ITV in the UK, proved popular with online consumers during its launch week. UK Internet traffic to www.freesat.co.uk, the service’s online homepage, increased by 627% between the weeks ending May 3rd and May 10th, while UK Internet searches for the term ‘freesat’ increased by 752% over the same period, making it the fastest moving search term in the UK last week.

London - The BBC announced on Wednesday that it will release a version of its BBC iPlayer video-on-demand service for the Nintendo Wii. Once the service goes live, a message will be sent to all Wii consoles in the U.K. connected to the Internet, letting them know about the new feature. The BBC said that the total number of requests for downloads and streams of its programming via the iPlayer was 17.2 million in March, up from 14 million in February and 11.2 million in January.

London - The BBC announced this week that it has made its iPlayer, a Web-based service that lets U.K. citizens watch the broadcaster's programming on demand, available on Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone. Programming will not be accessible over the EDGE cellular network; instead, users will have to be within range of a Wi-Fi network to access the iPlayer.

San Francisco - Blinkx, the developer of a video search engine, on Thursday announced content partnerships with the BBC, CBS and The Weather Channel. With the agreements, the site will further expand its programming, which already includes 18 million hours of indexed video and audio content from more than 220 partners.

Brussels - The European Union has invested $20.5 million in a research project that is exploring the use of peer-to-peer technology for Internet television delivery across Europe. The P2P-Next project is using an open-source BitTorrent client called Tribler, which partners including the BBC and European Broadcasting Union plan to use to stream live TV.

London - The BBC announced on Tuesday that it has added several of its TV programs to the offering at the U.K. iTunes Store, including episodes of "Torchwood," "Little Britain" and "Life On Mars." The programs, which will cost about $3.69 each, are not scheduled to be made available on iTunes in the U.S. "With more people now choosing to watch TV shows on their iPods, fans of series such as The Mighty Boosh and The Catherine Tate Show can now enjoy those shows wherever they are," said Simon Danker, director of digital media at BBC Worldwide.

New York - KickApps, a provider of on-demand social media technology, said on Wednesday that it will power the online community functions for "Upstaged," a new multi-platform reality TV show from Endemol that will air on the BBC in the U.K. The show will see amateurs submit audition videos of their particular talent, with the best then chosen to face off head-to-head with the goal of entertaining a live audience. Viewers will then vote on these competitions and eventually choose an overall champion.

Santa Monica, Calif. - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace has signed an agreement with BBC Worldwide that will bring clips from BBC shows like "Doctor Who," "Torchwood, " "Top Gear" and "The Mighty Boosh" to its members worldwide, Reuters reported. The deal calls for MySpace and the BBC to share advertising revenues.

UK Internet traffic to the BBC’s iPlayer website increased 14-fold between the week ending 8 December 2007 and the week ending 5 January. The online catch-up TV service ranked as the 80th most visited website in the UK for the week ending 5 January 2008, having peaked at number 62 on New Year’s Day.

London - Three U.K. broadcasters -- the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 -- on Tuesday announced plans to launch an online video-on-demand joint venture in 2008, codenamed "Kangaroo." The U.K. service will carry over 10,000 hours of current and archived TV programming, initially made available for streaming and downloading from the Web, both for free, and as rentals and paid downloads.