Just like iPlayer, BSkyB and Joost before it, video search index Blinkx has decided to sideline the rather clunky standalone application for its recently-launched BBTV service, after just five months. Instead, it’s switching to an open platform called the “web”.

SEE ALSO: Blinkx Launches Yet Another Online TV Service

On the one hand, CEO Suranga Chandratillake calls it “a natural evolution for us”; on the other, he admits: “Advances in streaming technology and the pervasiveness of broadband have made software downloads an unnecessary obstacle for audiences.”

Blinkx only unveiled BBTV in April, the whole idea being the offer of big tie-ins with web content, serving alongside videos relevant links from Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Wikipedia, IMDB etc. Why Blinkx decided to offer a web-native product outside of a web environment, nobody knows.

The BBC found iPlayer traffic increase exponentially after it added its web-based Flash version to its Windows app, a move that also rescued it from platform neutrality advocates’ protests. Joost, too, is in the process of switching in the hope it can find more eyeballs.

In launching its Flash version, Blinkx has essentially folded BBTV in to its core offering. None of the videos I tried had integrated those web-wide links, nor the talked-about rolling transcripts. The app is still available for download. Release.