Online video search company blinkx has become the latest firm to launch its own peer-to-peer internet television service.

BBTV went live today, drawing on existing partnerships with news prodco ITN and Dogwoof Pictures, an independent UK film distributor, but blinkx promises dozens of channels and premium video in the coming months.

The firm has opted for a download model at a time when other start-ups in the space such as Joost are re-evaluating this strategy, with web-based streaming via the BBC iPlayer, Hulu and Veoh gaining traction.

blinkx claims it will differentiate itself, however, with superior interactivity, such as the ability for viewers to create a 'speech track' of content within the video - a searchable word-for-word transcript of scripts.

This text will seamlessly hyperlink to sites like Google, Wikipedia and IMDB so audiences can find out more information about actors or featured locations. It will also integrate with blinkx's contextual ad technology.

"BBTV delivers television over the internet, but it also fuses that TV with the wealth of information on the web, rather than appearing as just another layer floating above it," said blinkx CEO Suranga Chandratillake.

The announcement did little to lift blinkx's share price, however, which stood today at 16p - less than a quarter of that at its stock market debut less than a year ago when the company was spun out of Autonomy.