The BBC Trust has blocked the broadcaster's plans to make its
iPlayer software a standard. The Adobe Air application has become
increasingly popular in the UK and overseas, by offering users a
way to watch and download BBC TV and radio programmes over the
internet.
The BBC had proposed that ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 should
have access to iPlayer to enable them to compete with other TV
companies when the UK switches over to digital TV in 2012.
However, the
BBC
website has reported that the trust did not feel that sharing
the iPlayer would not deliver value to licence-fee payers.
Last week
Channel 4 announced it would make its programmes available free
of charge on YouTube.
