Broadband internet provider Internode has officially become the first Australian ISP (Internet Service Provider) to deliver FetchTV’s online TV service over the NBN (National Broadband Network). FetchTV is one of the preeminent forms of television that can be watched online, and with the incredibly high speeds of the NBN, could be the first step towards how Australians watch TV in the future.

A home in the western Sydney suburb of Bunya was used to showcase the new Internode service. FetchTV’s main release for the NBN is scheduled for mid-2012, but Internode has designed its own delivery system, so it can offer its customers the service right away.

At the initial demonstration, Internode showed how a number of video-on-demand content types over the Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) NBN service. HD Luxe TV, new release films, a couple of multicultural language packs (the Hindi and Great Wall (Chinese) packs), as well as English football club Chelsea’s own channel (part of the FetchTV sports pack) were shown.

If you didn’t already know, FetchTV offers time-shifted television viewing, Video-on-Demand movies and programming, and a slew of new television channels. You get free-to-air TV in the FetchTV Lite service, plus the option for a large number of on-demand TV channels, new-release movies as pay-per-view on-demand, and a choice of 30 free ‘library’ movie titles each month with the FetchTV Full service upgrade. There is also free TV show episodes from some of the major studios. You can then add extra content from various countries around the world like China, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Korea.

Internode product manager Jim Kellett said about his company’s accomplishment: "It completes the triple play of data, voice and video … Rather than wait for the NBN to deliver multicast, we have worked out how to use existing technology to deliver high-quality video-on-demand using FetchTV over the NBN."

Internode’s FetchTV Full service will be available for its customers over the NBN later this year when the National Broadband Network is officially opened for commercial business. However, you should know Internode already offers FetchTV’s Lite service on the NBN, as well as both Lite and Full FetchTV services over its own ADSL2+ network.

Optus (1300 137 897) and iiNet (1300 106 571) also offer FetchTV on their ADSL2+ networks, and there is a rumour TPG (1300 106 571) may be adding the internet TV service to its plans in the near future.