Government back BBC Trust on iPlayer

The government has responded to an online petition which calls for the BBC Trust to make the BBC iPlayer work on non-Windows PCs.

The petition on the 10 Downing Street website has received over 16,000 signatures so far. It calls for the Prime Minister to "prevent the BBC from making its iPlayer on-demand television service available to Windows users only, and instruct the corporation to provide its service for other operating systems."

The government has responded to the petition, saying that the Trust had "made it a condition of approval for the BBC's on-demand services that the iPlayer is available to users of a range of operating systems."

"[It] has given a commitment that it will ensure that the BBC meets this demand as soon as possible. They will measure the BBC's progress on this every six months and publish the findings."

The BBC has said a mac version is planned to be released in the autumn followed by versions for Windows Vista and mobiles. It is also in talks with Virgin Media about launching the iPlayer on the cable platform.