I'm on Be* and the website is running slowly, and indeed coming up in simple HTML form, without all the bells and whistles, and no graphics! So they're very likely having problems...
It does mention on their website that a TV license is needed to watch it. They also state that they are legal under a certain act, but I can't remember which one. The only reason they were shut down before was due to the recording feature where you could record shows in advance. THIS article from The Register explains better than I do.
Thanks for the tvcatchup link, it is brilliant i have been looking for this but could not be bothered to lol look for it, today well both links load fast and without a hitch from me in bournemouth on virgin media cable.
It does need to be changed name wise its no longer catchup is it
They are allowing memebers who are signed up to create applications which allow you to record like the Sky+ and V+ service. So you can record onto your computer. This won't affect them legally though because it's not them that are creating the software. So eventually TVCatchup will be the correct name
Yup everything seems to be working fine here as well and the reason for the break in it working last night is due to THIS. Note you have to be signed in to access this I think.