BBC: World News & Stories app not working

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ClubMan

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BBC Sounds app stopped working today for users outside the UK and it suggested installing the BBC: World News & Stories app instead. Did that but when I run it this is all that I get - screen is blank other than the yellow exclamation warning (?) icon. No error messages or anything else indicating what's wrong.



Anyone else tried it and had more success?

(For the moment I guess I'll have to just use the website but even that is also proving to be flakey...)
 

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BBC Sounds stopped working for me today also... very annoyed at not being able to playback Radio 4 given the declared reason seemed to be international music rights.

The other BBC app works for me - Android phone. Try a shutdown of the app and reopen, it might be stuck on an accept cookies popup.

This page has links to live stream the BBC radio channels

BBC podcasts and audio are now available on BBC.com

Listen to current BBC podcasts and a rich archive of shows on demand on BBC.com and on the BBC app.
www.bbc.com
 
I have been able to play BBC R4 live (with limited ability to rewind I think) via the website this evening. It was a bit hit and miss but I'm beginning to think that that's my phone rather than the site but I'm not sure...

Radio 4 - Listen Live - BBC Sounds

Listen live to BBC Radio 4 on BBC Sounds
www.bbc.co.uk
 
The podcasts available on the BBC app is a very small subset of what was available via BBC Radio 4.

Removing playback of non-music Radio 4 content that isn't surfaced anywhere else just seems like a political act by the BBC.
 
The whole philosophy of the BBC regarding content geoblocking is insane.

I'm not allowed even download their app onto my phone because of its ROI SIM, even if I'm staying in GB or NI.
 
T McGibney said:
I'm not allowed even download their app onto my phone because of its ROI SIM, even if I'm staying in GB or NI.
Click to expand...
Which app? I was using BBC Sounds fine up to yesterday on my phone with a 48 SIM..I was also able to install the BBC: World News & Stories app but unfortunately it just gives me the yellow warning triangle when I run it for some reason.

I presume that the BBC, with this move, is at least partly reacting to complaints for politicians and others over there that Johnny Foreigner is enjoying BBC content for free? On the other hand I guess that they had geoblocking on the iPlayer for many years before this? And selective blocking where there were rights issues - e.g. some sports broadcasts etc.
 
You can go back 6 hours on BBC Radio 4 and World Service on the BBC.com links if you drag the timepoint backwards.
On eg BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 Extra you seem to only be able to go back to start of current programme.
 
ClubMan said:
I presume that the BBC, with this move, is at least partly reacting to complaints for politicians and others over there that Johnny Foreigner is enjoying BBC content for free?
Click to expand...
Partly that — they don't frame it as a detriment to the foreigners so much as a benefit to licence fee payers — more of the BBC's output is exclusive to them.

But there's also, I gather, an intellectual property issue. A good deal of BBC output includes music or other content which the BBC did not produce, and which it only has a licence to distribute within the UK.

Finally, there's a commercial issue (and this is probably the main one) — BBC wants to monetise its content, which is hard to do when you distribute it for free. You'll still be able to access a lot of BBC content through third party providers like Spotify. These providers pay the BBC for its content (and recover the costs through subscriptions, advertising, etc). The BBC reckons that, the harder it is for people to access BBC content for free, the more demand there will be for BBC content from third party providers, and so the more they can charge when they licence it to those providers.
 
I think the current international users would understand if this move was done and then alongside it:
Some option to pay for continued full international access was provided even if just to BBC produced content or non-music content.
Or if they announced, you can continue to access the content on demand via Spotify or a paid podcast provider or whoever.

Instead they are cutting off their fan base with no raft. That fan base is going to go elsewhere. If BBC content does pop up elsewhere it will be piecemeal and worth less to the BBC I suspect than if they focused on building an international BBC brand of audio content and offering a subscription to that.
 
odyssey06 said:
Instead they are cutting off their fan base with no raft. That fan base is going to go elsewhere. If BBC content does pop up elsewhere it will be piecemeal and worth less to the BBC
Click to expand...
In recent days, someone younger and more tech aware than I told me that they are building up a substantial archive of TV box-set material for future viewing, all downloaded surreptitiously and for free.

That includes BBC material.
 
The BBC have a successful business model (BBC Worldwide) to monitise their assets , by licensing individual series / programs / films to other stations and streaming platforms. They have delibrately chosen not to enter the very crowded subscription streaming market as they have done the research and reckon the number of people that will buy a subscription will be low and not worth their while.
 
I'd love to see how this plays out figures wise for them and what research was done. There's not much previous experiences to refer to \ research for audio content specifically.

Video content is consumed differently to audio content, the model that works for TV may not transfer to audio\radio content. BBC TV 'lifestyle' content can be repeated on UK digital channels. Drama and comedy can be distributed to international channels or streamers. The BBC TV channel content is similar in terms of content as ITV, RTE, NBC etc just without ads so content can be easily shuffled around.

Also, while there is a large podcast \ streaming market, that is only a small portion of the BBC Radio 4 schedule for example, that looks like it would transfer to them. A lot of topical stuff that you would want to consume within 24 hours. Short run comedy series & once off dramas and documentaries that would be hard to package up for redistribution. Abridged book readings - whereas the wider market seems focused on unabridged readings. If they wanted the type of content available on audio streaming platforms right now, they likely wouldn't have ended up listening to the BBC.

If that's the road they want to go down, they would need to adjust their output to content that can be more easily shopped around, it will be interesting to see if that is the plan.
 
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