The BBC's iPlayer service is in danger of becoming an expensive joke after the broadcaster's overseeing body recommended crippling several key features.

Someone needs to break the news to the BBC Trust that viewers are sick of petty restrictions

The BBC had proposed one of the world's most impressive internet television services. It consists of several elements including simulcast TV over the internet and a free seven-day "catch up" allowing viewers to download programs they missed.

The BBC's overseeing body, the BBC Trust, wants to ban users from scheduling "catch up" downloads in advance. So if you know you're going to miss a show, you can't mark it in advanced to be downloaded after in runs - you have to wait until you've actually missed it and then remember to download it. What kind of a petty, anal rule is that? Are they worried that people will become reliant on the service rather than watching shows when they're broadcast? If so, why are they bothering to offer the service at all?

The ban is part of a list of conditions submitted by the BBC Trust - a list based on feedback from Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. The BBC Trust also wants "catch up" downloads to be automatically deleted after 30 days, while the BBC has proposed downloads could be kept for 13 weeks. The reason - it could impact the sale of secondary rights including DVD sales.

The Trust also wants to nobble the "series stacking" feature which lets you store downloads of entire series. According to The Guardian, it wants to limit this feature to shows "with a distinct run, with a beginning and end, and a narrative arc or those which are landmark series with exceptionally high impact". EastEnders, Horizon, Top Gear and Blue Peter would be excluded from series stacking under the Trust's iPlayer proposals, while series such as Bleak House, Planet Earth and Doctor Who would be included.

Why more such petty distinctions? Again, they're based on economic concerns rather than what viewers actually want. Why should Brits bother with such a service when they can just buy themselves a PVR and record whatever they want and watch it whenever they want? Otherwise they could just go and download shows illegally from the internet.

There's now a consultation period and the BBC Trust is expended to reach its final decision by May. If it wants to take television into the 21st century, whilst combatting piracy, it's going to have to do better than these petty restrictions. It will be interesting to see if they've got the guts to actually give the people what they want. If not, the people might just go out and find it elsewhere.