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BBC blocking articles from UK residents

alexwarren.co.uk

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Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#41

Post by IanCal »

apricot13 wrote: post #35
megablast wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the BBC is no longer producing content for BBC 1 and 2 in the UK? Don't be ridiculous.

I never said I didn't like it, I said it was drivel. I'm quite partial to the odd well produced period drama. What I'm trying to say is that recently they tend produce content with a mind to how the US will receive this new content. Dr who, top gear and downton abbey for instance. All of these are popular in the US and while that isn't a bad thing (more money to the BBC to hopefully make more content) what I disagree…

Have you heard of BBC4?

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#42

Post by ownagefool »

megablast wrote: post #9
apricot13 wrote: post #7

THIS! In the last few years the BBC have produced nothing but period dramas and drivel all of it aimed at the american market. Why make quality british programming for the British market any more when you can make a 'UK series' (6 eps) and make pure profit in the US market.

So the BBC is no longer producing content for BBC 1 and 2 in the UK? Don't be ridiculous.

No but large swaths of the UK probably don't watch BBC1 or BBC2 on a regular basis as they have a sky or cable and I agree with them, they shouldn't need to fund the BBC if they don't use the content.

Reports suggest we'd make 6-7 billion on a sell off. Sell it and put the money towards buying back openreach because an infrastructure is what .gov should do, not content. =p

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#43

Post by [deleted] »

alex-warren wrote: post #14
andrewcooke wrote: post #5

A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: [...] 'Under the BBC’s Fair Trading rules commercial websites are not allowed to receive unfair promotion from the BBC’s public services. 'This prevents us from being able to provide Future content on BBC.co.uk. genres. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208251/Global-BBC-w... (daily mail, so you have to scroll way down past the righteous indignation to get the facts)

Surely they can still make the content available even if they're not allowed to promote it on the public services? e.g. I can still buy Doctor Who DVDs in the UK, even if the BBC can't advertise them between programmes.

[deleted]

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#44

Post by rlpb »

andrewcooke wrote: post #5

A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: [...] 'Under the BBC’s Fair Trading rules commercial websites are not allowed to receive unfair promotion from the BBC’s public services. 'This prevents us from being able to provide Future content on BBC.co.uk. genres. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208251/Global-BBC-w... (daily mail, so you have to scroll way down past the righteous indignation to get the facts)

So is there a way to make bbc.com articles available to us in a way that doesn't involve unfair promotion?

The problem is that I can't read an article that somebody else referred me to. He's already promoting it. I don't think it'd be unfair to give me access on that basis.

Browsing bbc.com through the front page? I'm not interested in that anyway.

LWN.net do "subscriber links", where a subscriber can share a subscriber-only article. What if bbc.com did that, so that readers can share an article with everyone?

This is subject to abuse, of course. LWN.net control it (presumably) by controlling subscriptions, since only subscribers can generate subscriber links and the links are unique and trackable. But I can think of some mitigation strategies for this, and am not sure that abuse will be such a big deal.

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#45

Post by asg »

tomelders wrote: post #31

Please send an email to the BBC Trust asking them to reassess wether this policy really is in the best interests of the BBC and the licence payer. Please abstain from just complaining. The BBC is a complex beast and I genuinely believe this policy was drafted with the BBC and the licence payers best interests at heart, but perhaps they should take another look at this policy and debate wether or not there is a better…

The anger by the OP and most of the commenters is misplaced. This is not a decision solely by the BBC Trust, and was not done with the licence players best interest at heart. This is the result of lobbying by newspapers and commercial broadcasters. The theory is that compulsory tax (or license fee) payers money should not be used to compete against commercial interests in anything other than TV broadcasting. In the current political climate, this is unlikely to change.

In fact, there was a concerted effort a few years back to shut down the entire BBC News website.

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#46

Post by 6d0debc071 »

BgSpnnrs wrote: post #20
pedromorgan wrote: post #11

So this stuff we are "forced" to pay for via the TV licence, but we cannot see.. Think the BBC should be privatised.. TopGear is worth a few million for a start...

No thankyou. BBC worldwide does just fine earning from the channel's exports and otherwise the BBC maintains a fine standard of ad-free media.

Then let those who want the BBC pay for such a thing. I see no good reason why I should have to subsidise your tastes.

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#47

Post by wrboyce »

This just reads to me as generic nerdrage and/or an attempt to gain some internet points by piggybacking an earlier discussion on HN.

It would be far quicker to view the article via Coral Cache, the Way Back Machine or some other proxy, and it would be far more effective to write to the BBC Trust and/or your local MP.

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#48

Post by louthy »

ig1 wrote: post #4

The BBC are prohibited from running certain commercial services (of which BBC.com is one) in the UK due to regulatory requirements. It's not their decision. You could of-course lobby your MP to get it changed, but I imagine there would be substantial opposition from both supporters and opponents of public media services to allowing BBC to run commercial services in the UK.

The thing is they're still running the services whether someone in the UK consumes it or not.

I thought the primary reason for it not running commercial services was so that its integrity as an independent source of news and culture wasn't compromised. So surely by running anything commercial, it is potentially compromised.

You can already see that by the type of programmes that get made these days. It's clear much of it is made to sell to the rest of the world, rather than just for a UK audience.

Re: BBC blocking articles from UK residents

#49

Post by corin_ »

alex-warren wrote: post #14
andrewcooke wrote: post #5

A BBC Worldwide spokesman said: [...] 'Under the BBC’s Fair Trading rules commercial websites are not allowed to receive unfair promotion from the BBC’s public services. 'This prevents us from being able to provide Future content on BBC.co.uk. genres. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2208251/Global-BBC-w... (daily mail, so you have to scroll way down past the righteous indignation to get the facts)

Surely they can still make the content available even if they're not allowed to promote it on the public services? e.g. I can still buy Doctor Who DVDs in the UK, even if the BBC can't advertise them between programmes.

Not that it invalidates your point, but your example is a bad one - BBC can, and do, advertise DVDs of their own TV series, in between programmes.
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