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Mark Thompson has promised the iPlayer will be available on Macs this year - while defending the service's erstwhile reliance on Microsoft and PCs.
The BBC director general has previously been criticised because the iPlayer's download function only works on PCs running Microsoft Windows. Until this week it has also relied on Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.
Thompson yesterday acknowledged the problem and said: "Work is still ongoing, but I am happy to be able to confirm here that we are aiming to launch a download version of BBC iPlayer for Mac this year."
He said the BBC decided to make the iPlayer available to some at Christmas rather than wait to launch it on more platforms. He put the delay down to technical barriers, the need for strict digital rights management and having to spend licence fee money responsibly.
"At the time of development, both the take-up of PCs and the availability of robust, compatible DRM software - software which would satisfy rights holders - meant that a Windows-based solution was accepted as the best technical solution immediately available," said Thompson.
"The BBC has, however, always been committed to exploring alternative DRM systems with Real Media, Adobe and Apple and we are part of a consortium looking at developing alternative cross-platform DRM systems."
The director general, in a post to the BBC internet blog, said statistics showed 90% of people using the streaming iPlayer used Windows PCs, 9% Macs and 0.8% Linux.
He added: "I recognise that to many people’s minds making this service available to only a proportion of users was not the correct decision, and I accept that for some there is nothing I could say to justify this choice."
Meanwhile, Garth Ancier, president of BBC Worldwide America, has said he wants to launch a US version of the iPlayer within six months. It is likely to use the BBC America brand but carry a wide range of content.
