BBC Trust to look at iPlayer restrictions

The BBC has agreed to talk to the open source community about access to its new iPlayer video on demand TV service.

The open source community is concerned that at the moment, iPlayer will only work with Windows XP.

The service will allow viewers to catch up on BBC TV programmes for seven days. Some TV series can be downloaded and stored for 30 days after which they will be deleted.

The BBC has said when the service launches on 27 July it will be restricted to Windows XP only, as this is the operating system most people are using, but it intends to make the service compatible with other operating systems.

Ashley Highfield, director of Future Media and Technology at the BBC, said he was "fundamentally committed to universality, to getting the BBC iPlayer to everyone in the UK who pays their licence fee".

It is anticipated a version for Apple Macs could be available in autumn, with versions for Window's Vista and mobile devices to follow, Highfield said. He also said that the solution could include Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, which in the present iPlayer deletes programmes 30 days after download.

But the Open Source Consortium (OSC) has wanted to raise its concerns with the BBC and feared the iPlayer would force people to use and buy Microsoft products.

In January this year the OSC filed complaints to the BBC Trust, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - now part of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform - and broadcast regulator Ofcom. The BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body, has now agreed to meet with the OSC. The BBC was unavailable for comment.