Adobe and BBC in iPlayer deal

Mac and Linux users should soon be able to download TV programmes with the BBC’s iPlayer.

PC users have been able to do this for some time, and now a platform-neutral download client is being launched to extend the service to other platforms.

The news was released by Erik Huggers, the BBC’s director of future media and technology, on the BBC Internet blog.

The download client, which should be available by the end of the year, will use Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).

Along with PC users, it will allow Mac and Linux users to download episodes from the iPlayer up to 30 days after they have been broadcast.

After a programme has been downloaded it must be watched within seven days.