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The corporation has yet to say when a Mac version will be available. Having originally made no plans to support the Apple OS, criticism from Ofcom, the industry regulator, and an online campaign by Mac users helped to prompt a change in a policy and an announcement in April that a Mac player was a top priority.

Ashley Highfield, the BBC's director of Future Media & Technology, reiterated that commitment.

"We are committed to making it as easy as possible to use BBC iPlayer," he said. "Developing a version for Apple Macs and Microsoft Vista is absolutely on our critical path."

He added that the BBC is also committed to putting iPlayer on TV.

"We are

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delighted to be working with Virgin Media towards a launch on cable later this year. We are hopeful that other TV platforms will follow soon after,' he said.

"Our vision is for BBC iPlayer to become a universal service available not just over the internet, but also on cable and other TV platforms, and eventually on mobiles and smart handheld devices."

However these plans could yet face scrutiny from the European Commission. The Open Source Consortium believes that iPlayer will force people to buy Microsoft software and plans to send a formal complaint to the Commission later this week.

The OSC is particularly concerned that the BBC has put no timeframe on Mac availability - and Linux appears to be totally out of the question - and refuses to commit to an initial target of 24 months.

The problem is that the Windows version relies on DRM technology that is not available for the Mac.

"Our ability to deliver this open approach will be influenced by the availability of alternative DRM systems on the market," the BBC says in a statement.

Ignoring the contradiction between "open approach" and "DRM", the statement adds that "the BBC must balance extending access to content with the need to maintain the interests of rights holders and the value of secondary rights in BBC programming".

DRM is also necessary to meet the terms Public Value Test set by the BBC Trust, the statement says.

The OSC believes that the public interest would be best served by removing restrictions on content.