UK cable service to feed CCTV of public spaces to viewer's TVs

A TV service provider in London has rolled out a pilot project in which feeds from hundreds of "crime fighting" CCTV cameras are being rebroadcast for in-home viewing:

Telegraph | News | CCTV channel beamed to your home:

Shoreditch TV is an experiment in beaming live footage from the street into people's homes and promises to be every bit as fascinating as the courtship rituals of Celebrity Big Brother contestants Chantelle and Preston.

Viewers can watch the dog walkers on the street below, monitor the appearance of new graffiti and keep an eye on the local pub.

This summer 22,000 Londoners will be tuning in and homes across Britain are getting their own version next year. But despite being a curtain-twitcher's paradise, the channel is about 'fighting crime from the sofa', not entertainment.

In return for a package that includes footage from 12 security cameras, a police advice channel and an array of standard cable fare, the residents of Haberdasher Estate are expected to shop any yobs that they catch on camera.

Check out, also, the Slashdot discussion: Slashdot | London 2006, Meet London 1984.