The trial will see up to 40 hours of programming across a range of genres initially available on the BBC iPlayer. Until now, the BBC's online-only content has been limited to pilots and one-off shows such as the Doctor Who web series Pond Life.
Last year saw a record number of requests for programmes on the iPlayer. Overall 2012 saw 2.32 billion requests for TV and radio programmes, a rise on the 1.94 billion recorded in 2011.
The annoucement comes at a time when streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu are booming in the US.
Last November Virgin Media launched TV Anywhere, an internet TV service that streams programmes to computers, tablets and smartphones.
The BBC iPlayer is still dwarfed by scheduled television broadcasts and only accounts for about two per cent of all of the BBC's viewing figures.
Source: BBC News
