MP attacks BBC over iPlayer 'inequality'

An MP has told the BBC director general it is "deeply problematic" that the download component of iPlayer only works with Windows.

Liberal Democrat John Pugh pressed Mark Thompson at a public accounts select committee session on BBC procurement.

He said the BBC, as a public organisation, was effectively giving Microsoft a "commercial advantage". Currently the Flash-powered iPlayer streaming service is available cross-platform; downloads are Windows only and may only be initiated using Internet Explorer.

Pugh also wrote to Thompson with his concerns following the meeting. He said: "By guaranteeing full functionality to the products of one software vendor, (the BBC) is as a public body handing a commercial advantage to that company - effectively illegal state aid!

"What might be a pragmatic choice for a privately funded company becomes deeply problematic for a public corporation."

Before the committee Thompson said downloads would be made available on the other platforms "as soon as possible".

Pugh wrote: "I recognise and welcome the assurances that the BBC and you personally have given on this subject but wonder whether the sheer novelty of the new media has blinded many to the clear commercial inequity in the delivery of it."