"The BBC iPlayer Desktop beta on Adobe AIR will help extend their popular browser-based Web video broadcasts to more viewers with a high-quality, instant-on Internet TV experience outside the browser and across all major operating systems," said Jim Guerard, Vice President and General Manager of Dynamic Media at Adobe, as the BBC and Adobe today announced the public beta of the new BBC iPlayer Desktop download manager.

Guerard noted that the BBC is recognized worldwide as a trusted broadcast innovator. Nonetheless the BBC iPlayer is only available to UK audiences and can only be accessed within the UK. It will be rolled out to all BBC iPlayer users during 2009.

BBC iPlayer Labs users can sign up at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/labs.

The new download manager allows users to view their favorite BBC shows, online or offline, with a high-quality solution across operating systems.While previously, the ability to download programs was only available for Windows users, the new beta version will enable Mac and Linux users too to download programs to their desktops.

“Since it launched at the end of last year, BBC iPlayer programs have been available for streaming on Windows, Mac and Linux computers," said Erik Huggers, director, BBC Future Media & Technology. "Today, we’re pleased to display our commitment to providing a cross-platform download solution for BBC iPlayer users, as Mac and Linux users are now able to download BBC iPlayer programs to play offline," he added.