With little to separate the biggest pay TV packages in terms of user experience and linear content, on-demand services are set to become an increasingly important factor in the battle to win new customers.
BT Vision, Sky and Virgin Media all offer similar products. While Sky can arguably claim to offer the strongest linear TV line-up, thanks in part to the exclusive US drama and comedy channel Sky Atlantic, it's the various on-demand features offered by each provider that could prove to be a real deal clincher.
It's clear that these pay TV broadcasters recognise the importance of catch-up and on-demand content, with all three recently announcing updates and improvements to their services.
Just this week, Sky revealed it will extend its on-demand product, known as Anytime+, to more than five million homes by this Easter by making it available to any household with Sky+HD and a broadband connection. Previously, only customers who also had Sky broadband were able to take advantage of the service, which offers access to content from channels such as MTV, Discovery, FX, History, Disney and UK TV.
The satellite broadcaster has also clinched agreements with the BBC and ITV to further expand the range of high-quality on-demand programming it offers.
Not to be outdone, BT announced this week that it has bagged a new movies-on-demand agreement with major Hollywood studio Miramax, meaning Vision customers can look forward to instant access to a huge variety of films. Highlights of the Miramax catalogue include the first three instalments in the Scream series, hit musical Chicago and Quentin Tarantino's classic Pulp Fiction.
And just last month, Virgin Media unveiled a deal with the BBC that will bring on-demand programming, live content from the Red Button and additional material from BBC Online to its TiVo next-generation entertainment service.
With competition in the digital TV market set to get even fiercer with the impending launch of YouView, we can look forward to even more improvements in the coming months.