BBC international content blocked in the UK?


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Has anyone ever seen this before on the BBC.co.uk website? i was reading an article and it had a link down the left hand side to something on Tim Berners Lee, i clicked on it and got:

We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com.

Not sure what the point is blocking it in the UK but allowing people outside the UK to freely view it? I would think any profits made from me viewing it would help them regardless of where i am in the world.

Link: http://www.bbc.com/f...tim-berners-lee

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Oh shut up, Haggis.

I see the launch announcement here: http://www.bbc.co.uk...0212future.html - but it doesn't really explain it.

I would assume it is a licensing issue of some sort, however. I would be very surprised if it was something they just 'decided' to do.

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lol BBC broadcast worldwide

yet the UK are the only people forced to pay for something whether they use it or not

No 'the BBC' don't broadcast worldwide, in the sense you're trying to use it. The BBC has two main arms, one which broadcasts in the UK, funded by the license fee, and one which is commercial and for-profit that does the worldwide stuff. The license fee does not fund the latter, and the latter carries advertisements.

And the license fee funds all this: http://www.bbc.co.uk...are/licencefee/ ... it would be impressive to have made use of none of those, directly or indirectly.

Get your facts right, please.

To add to Kirkburn's explanation ... BBC Worldwide is indeed a commercial "for profit" organisation that is a wholly owned

subsidiary of the BBC. All of the profits from BBC Worldwide, including official sales of BBC DVD's and merchandise do not

go into the hands of shareholders like a private company, they're funnelled back into the BBC itself to supplement the TVL.

BBC Worldwide is also responsible for operating BBC branded international channels such as BBC America, which is a

commercial cable channel broadcasting British TV (not just BBC) shows to the USA, and BBC World News, a 24 hour

news and current affairs channel, that's much like an international version of the BBC News Channel

BBC World News can be viewed online unofficially here in the UK ... if you know where to look . . .

If they broadcast the program as a BBC one, then we as british citizens should be able to see it, ragardless "if it's not funded" because deep down it'll be funded by us somewhere.

Cannot wait until the license fee is scrapped as I strongly don't feel like we get value for money at all.

Cannot wait until the license fee is scrapped as I strongly don't feel like we get value for money at all.

Would you care to suggest a viable alternative to the TV Licence then? Don't bother to suggest the BBC carries commercial

advertising, or is funded by voluntary monthly subscriptions similar Sky or cable, these are not viable alternative methods.

Would you care to suggest a viable alternative to the TV Licence then? Don't bother to suggest the BBC carries commercial

advertising, or is funded by voluntary monthly subscriptions similar Sky or cable, these are not viable alternative methods.

How is advertising NOT a viable alternative as it funds pretty much every TV network in existance?

If they broadcast the program as a BBC one, then we as british citizens should be able to see it, ragardless "if it's not funded" because deep down it'll be funded by us somewhere.

Cannot wait until the license fee is scrapped as I strongly don't feel like we get value for money at all.

You've got a long wait then.

yet the UK are the only people forced to pay for something whether they use it or not

Without it the quality of UK television would sink even lower, with more commercially biased programming, more overt product placement and more advertising. The BBC improves quality by setting a bar for the expectations of the viewing public.

That said, I do feel that the quality of the BBC - especially their news service - has deteriorated recently. I feel that Al Jazeera - while not providing the same local (or sometimes even national focus) - provides much better balanced, less biased and less dumbed down broadcasts, especially their in-depth programming. The BBC News Channel has become much more dumbed down and casual in an effort to compete with Sky News. The same is true of the Daily Politics, which has devolved to an almost infantile level.

How is advertising NOT a viable alternative as it funds pretty much every TV network in existance?

Give me your private and work emails and I'll hapially send you 1,000 emails with different adverts in them if you agree to sit through all of them and read every single one.

Thought not.

Would you care to suggest a viable alternative to the TV Licence then? Don't bother to suggest the BBC carries commercial

advertising, or is funded by voluntary monthly subscriptions similar Sky or cable, these are not viable alternative methods.

Pretty sure Sky or cable are not funded by voluntary subscriptions ;) As for adverts though, why not?

As for adverts though, why not?

It's one of the major appeals of the BBC, and helps maintain its independence from commercial interests. Plus, as soon as ads are allowed, state funding would be massively cut, resulting in a huge reduction in output. Compare the BBC to Channel 4 (also publically owned), for example.

I mean, it's possible, but would have severe implications,

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lol BBC broadcast worldwide

yet the UK are the only people forced to pay for something whether they use it or not

On another note you could use a proxy to bypass it

Actually, a lot of companies have similar solutions to the license fee. Switzerland, for example.

It's one of the major appeals of the BBC, and helps maintain its independence from commercial interests. Plus, as soon as ads are allowed, state funding would be massively cut, resulting in a huge reduction in output. Compare the BBC to Channel 4 (also publically owned), for example.

I mean, it's possible, but would have severe implications,

While the BBC isn't censored by commercial interests, it's not exactly unbiased and uncensored programming

While the BBC isn't censored by commercial interests, it's not exactly unbiased and uncensored programming

Good thing I didn't say it was completely unbiased and uncensored then? :) (Though I would contest that it's still a lot better than many sources, especially newspapers)

Would you care to suggest a viable alternative to the TV Licence then? Don't bother to suggest the BBC carries commercial

advertising, or is funded by voluntary monthly subscriptions similar Sky or cable, these are not viable alternative methods.

I'd prefer it if they did what other commercial stations do (particularly pr0n channels). Just encrypt the stream and make it so that you can go into a shop or buy a code online to unlock it. That way that would give those of us that object to paying the fees for the crap that the BBC runs a way of avoiding the licence without being treated like criminals for doing so.

That way that would give those of us that object to paying the fees for the crap that the BBC runs a way of avoiding the licence without being treated like criminals for doing so.

I cannot make someone like the BBC's contributions, of course. But I should point out that you would be treated like a criminal because it is a crime. It is viewed similarly not paying tax, or driving without a license - and comes from the government. Justified or not, that's why you'd be treated like a criminal (but a really really low level of one, and obvious it's a very emotive name). Plus the TV license does more than simply fund BBC programming, there's also contributions to general research, hardware and infrastructure.

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