BBC Trust approves iPlayer

The BBC Trust has given its provisional backing to the Corporation’s on demand television services. Included are the seven-day catch up service, on cable and IPTV, and the Internet-delivered iPlayer.

The Trust has acknowledged some of the criticisms from Ofcom and agreed that the proposals around ’series stacking’ – where a series remains available for download until the end of a current run – needs to be tightened up. There was also criticism over the role of the Microsoft DRM, following a series of high profile meetings between senior BBC and Microsoft executives, and the Trust will require the BBC Executive to adopt a ‘platform agnostic’ approach that would include both Apple Mac and Linux platforms.

A second period of consultation is now underway with a further announcement expected before May. Such a schedule makes it likely that despite months of forward planning by the BBC, both ITV and Channel 4 will already have their iPlayer equivalents up and running. (JC)