In the U.S., Livestation also began offering Al Jazeera English Live (iTunes link) last month, a live TV application built using the same technology. As with BBC News, the live TV channel is available over both Wi-Fi and 3G. Around the corner, NASA may also be launching a live TV streaming application using Livestation's technology. Already a content partner, NASA's iPhone app has a description that reads: "Update Coming that adds Live NASA Public TV streaming to your device."

While both of these news applications offer TV streams from stations that Livestation is already partners with by way of their live TV desktop application, the company's iPhone streaming solution represents "just the tip of the iceberg," claims Livestation CEO Matteo Berlucchi. "Once other broadcasters see the immediate business benefits of the revenue model we are offering... we expect usage to increase."

The revenue model he is referring to is the one where iPhone and iPod Touch users purchase the mobile applications built using the Livestation iPhone technology platform in the iTunes App Store. They can then also serve ads within the app itself, if the broadcaster so chooses. Those ads don't have to be simple text or image links, either - they can be video ads, too, much like what you would see on TV. In addition, Berlucchi says that paid-for content that goes beyond that of the app's initial purchase price is also a possibility in the future.

According to Livestation's website, the iPhone solution uses the company's own streaming protocol to deliver the TV streams. However, they note that they plan to support the native Apple Streaming protocol as soon as it becomes available. That seems to confirm our suspicions from earlier this year about live streaming on the iPhone, which came about when we uncovered Apple's IETF submission for a live streaming protocol.

Livestation is not the only company to provide a means of watching TV on your iPhone, but the current crop of iPhone applications like SlingPlayer, Live TV, and Orb require a set-top box, a TV tuner, and/or software installed on your computer. Livestation's apps, on the other hand, simply require an iPhone.

To see the technology in action, you can watch this video on Vimeo, where the BBC News application is demonstrated.

The beta version of Livestation, which is built on the back of Microsoft's Flash competitor SilverLight, is PC-only, though the company promises a Mac version before the full release. NewTeeVee reports that Livestation signed content deals with a number of providers, but not everyone will see all of them. "European Livestation users will have access to the BBC, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, France 24 in French and English, Euronews, Canal+, Sky News and two BBC Radio stations with the new beta test unveiled today. US users will just get Al Jazeera, France 24 and BBC Radio for now," according to NewTeeVee's Janko Roettgers.

Because the technology is so similar -- at least to the end user -- Livestation will likely have to compete on content. Right now, it definitely lags behind Zattoo in that respect. But Zattoo isn't available in the US, so maybe it's a wash.

Last July, Erick Schonfeld, then with Business 2.0, wondered if live TV was worth it on the Internet. "On the Internet, does live TV even matter any more? ... The Internet is the ultimate on-demand television system, where the choices of what to watch and when have no practical limits. The concept of live TV almost makes no sense in that context," he wrote.

Livestation, and competitor Zattoo, are mainly focusing on news (and potentially sports) -- things that happen live. There is certainly a market for live streaming coverage. Though Schonfeld was right to suggest that the services would be far tastier if they also stored streams for later viewing like a DVR, there is definitely a market for live TV news over the Internet.

What do you think? Is live TV silly on the Internet? Or will products like Livestation and Zattoo find a market? Is this the killer app for Silverlight? Let us know in the comments.