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UK commercial broadcaster ITV has dumped Microsoft's Silverlight for Adobe's Flash to stream a range of online content including hit shows such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and The X-Factor.

ITV posted the following via a Twitter feed on Tuesday: "As you've probably gathered, we're now using Flash on our site rather than Silverlight."

The news may be welcome to Mac users will older computers. An ITV Player FAQ previously pointed out "Mac PowerPCs are currently not supported by Silverlight 2 and therefore cannot access video content on itv.com."

This problem was highlighted in a Macworld review back in May along with the less than wonderful picture quality.

This is not the first time Microsoft has lost an high profile client. Major League Baseball's MLB.com trashed Silverlight earlier this year, after just 12 months, in favour of Flash, baseball bosses considering Silverlight too unstable for a profitable subscription service.

The broadcaster has cited commercial considerations for the move, determined to reach the the greatest possible number of online viewers. ITV had been using Flash for streaming flagship shows including The X-Factor.

Despite recent financial woes ITV promises a popular mix of top entertainment soaps, drama, lifestyle, news and sport shows. Much of its output is available online.

Amongst an A-Z of contemporary shows available via ITV Player is an archive of content from ITV1, 2, 3 and 4 including sport, comedy and cult classics.

From the ITC archives comes The Prisoner, The Saint, The Champions, Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased), Space 1999 and UFO, while vintage comedy is represented by Carry On Laughing, Rising Damp and On The Buses among others.

Macworld