³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trust approved, with some modifications, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Executive’s proposals for on-demand services (iPlayer) on 30 April 2007.

In approving the proposals the Trust noted the strong public for demand for catch-up television to be available on a platform neutral basis. The Trust therefore requested that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ implement platform neutrality on the iPlayer within a reasonable timeframe. The Trust has audited the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ’s progress against this objective every six months and published its findings.

In June 2009, in its fourth progress report to the Strategic Approvals Committee the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Executive reported the final implementation of a solution to provide ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer downloads for the Mac and Linux platforms. The solution, which went live on 20 April 2009 means iPlayer is available on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux, thereby fulfilling the Trust’s requirement that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ provide a cross-platform download solution.

Diane Coyle, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trustee and Chair of the Strategic Approvals Committee, said: "When we carried out our PVT in 2007 we had an enormous response from the public calling for the iPlayer to be available on all platforms. The Trust challenged the Executive to implement platform neutrality as soon as possible and held them to account with regular updates. We are very pleased that the Executive has now fulfilled this requirement and access to iPlayer is available to a wide variety of computer users."

The Trust received the third platform neutrality report from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management in December 2008.

The Trust was pleased to note that a cross-platform download solution for the Mac and Linux platforms has been announced and will be launched as a beta in December 2008.

The Trust received the second platform neutrality report from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management in June 2008.

The Trust welcomes the successful introduction of iPlayer streaming functionality. We recognise that the addition of streaming has made iPlayer available to Linux and Apple users. However, we remain committed to ensuring that iPlayer download functionality is available to all audiences, not just Microsoft users.

We are satisfied that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is working to deliver the download service to users of non-Microsoft operating systems. In reviewing the latest platform neutrality report we were pleased to note that ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management envisages delivery of the download service to Apple users by the end of 2008, and to Linux users by spring 2009.

The Trust will check progress against delivery when considering management's next platform neutrality report in November 2008.

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trust is committed to a platform agnostic solution for the TV catch-up service on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer – as specified in the on-demand services' PVT. The Trust received a platform neutrality report from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management in November 2007.

The Trust is satisfied that progress has been made towards achieving platform neutrality for the TV catch-up service. The Trust notes that a streaming solution has been implemented, which will be a partial solution to the issues.

The Trust welcomes the addition of streaming functionality, but remains committed to the TV catch-up service being delivered as a platform agnostic application within a reasonable timeframe.The Trust received the second report platform neutrality report from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management in June 2008.