Skinkers, which earlier this year launched LiveStation, a P2P live streaming player in partnership with Microsoft has released their multi-channel online TV service in beta.

Above: LiveStation Small screen w/ EPG Overlay

The player, a 3.4 MB download for Windows, is based on Silverlight and has a very simple interface with an EPG overlay that comes up when moused over. So far five channels are available to U.S. users: BBC World Service radio, BBC Radio 4, France 24 (English & French) and Al Jazeera World News London, but more should be coming soon.

Above: LiveStation Full Screen

Speed of channel changing is extremely rapid, with very little load time and once the video starts up the stream is fluid and high quality with no skipping or rebuffering. It’s like having a cable TV interface on your computer.

Considering how much time users spend surfing the net while watching TV it’s easy to imagine them running LiveStation in the background wherever they are.