What is Zattoo?
Zattoo has developed a software program that allows you to watch TV on your computer. All you need is a broadband connection and a current operating system (Windows XP or Vista, Mac OS X, or Linux). The service is legal and free of charge.
To watch live TV on your PC, simply download the Zattoo Player, register, and get channel-surfing! If you run into any problems, take a look at our FAQ section.
Where can I use Zattoo?
Zattoo is currently available in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. We’ll be launching in new countries and continents soon, so check back frequently.
Is Zattoo really free of charge?
Yes. You can download the Zattoo Player for free, and it also doesn’t cost you anything to use Zattoo to watch TV.
Is Zattoo really legal?
Yes. Zattoo acquires the rights to retransmit the channels separately for each country we launch in. It takes a lot of legwork (read: flight miles and sizzling phone lines) to collect the necessary rights to transmit the channels. Unlike the fast food world, the media world doesn’t operate on a global basis, so if we acquire the rights to carry a French TV channel in Switzerland, say, we don’t automatically get the right to carry it also in France or Germany.
All of this doesn’t deter us, of course. Chances actually are that we’re talking to a broadcaster somewhere right now, as you are reading this. So stay tuned for more channels in Z-countries and a launch in countries that haven’t been zattooed yet.
How does it work?
Zattoo is a peer-to-peer application. This means that the data is not streamed from one central server to all users watching a certain program, but flows from one user to the next, thus also using the computing power of the users’ computers. The technology is based on research done by Sugih Jamin and Wenjie Wang at the University of Michigan and is optimized to stream live content.
Other technical data:
Resolution: 352x288 (wide screen: 480x288)
Downstream rate: 500 Kbits/second
Video-Codec: H.264
Who’s behind it?
Zattoo was founded in 2005 by Sugih Jamin, Beat Knecht, and Wenjie Wang. The three co-founders are supported by a team of currently around 50 people, stationed in Ann Arbor, USA, and Zurich, Switzerland.
More questions on Zattoo? Take a look at our “About Zattoo” section.