UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that the BBC will definitely develop open source versions of the iPlayer, but was cagey about the timescale.

Brown's comments came in response to a 16,000-strong online petition on a government website demanding action over the iPlayer software, which is currently only available for those that use Microsoft's Windows operating system.

"In the case of the iPlayer, following the consultation, the BBC Trust noted the strong public demand for the service to be available on a variety of operating systems," said the statement from Downing Street.

"The BBC Trust 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, and 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 Trust has already agreed to produce a multi-platform iPlayer but has yet to announce any date for completion. While the Downing Street statement also refuses to commit on a date, it is expected to hurry the development process.

The Open Source Consortium has already made protests about the iPlayer to the BBC and Ofcom, and BBC has also been hit by demonstrators protesting at the system's use of DRM technology.