'The whole TV experience is changing' - Telegraph.co.uk

Indeed, Sky too claim that once users become accustomed to on-demand content, they don't merely watch BBC programmes on the iPlayer. Outside the standard programme guide, with BBC One and Two at the top, other shows get a better look in. According to Bradley-Jones, "viewing patterns are changing quite rapidly", with 2.5million views for Sky's series An Idiot Abroad alone.

Even so, researchers GfK estimate that 20 per cent of the UK adult population – about 10 million people – use the iPlayer every week. As if to emphasise the growing integration between online services and traditional broadcast TV, Netflix claimed last year that its target was Sky Movies rather than rival services such as LoveFilm or increasingly Google's YouTube.

Bradley-Jones acknowledges that Sky must continue to offer "extra value to subscribers". Sky Go Extra will cost an additional £5 per month, after a two-month free trial, and is just part of a plan to entice the subscribers required for Sky to keep producing and buying new programmes.

That makes it all the more crucial for Sky to retain its current critical mass, driven by exclusive sport and movies which are not available on any other online film subscription service for a least a year afterwards. The new downloads service will no doubt use tablets and phones to drive greater loyalty.

Rivals may want to challenge Sky's dominant position, but for now at least it looks unlikely that distributors want to change the system. Indeed, Netflix's Kelly Merryman concedes that at the moment "The equivalent of "this season's model" is paying iTunes to own a film and "last season's model" is Netflix," albeit at a lower price.

Unfortunately, its new programmes, from films to TV, that people primarily want to watch. And they want to watch it in more places than ever, with more devices than ever. That makes downloads vital. "The way customers are thinking about the whole TV experience is changing again," says Bradley-Jones, "and it's ultimately all about the content - however people want to watch it."