6 ms·

Ugh can't view from the uk

by jibbit 10y ago

dmix 10y ago
You can't view a BBC article from the UK? Don't your taxes pay for this content?
- vidarh 10y ago
  No. This is published by BBC's commercial arm. They're not allowed to use TV license money on it. But on the other hand, the BBC is not allowed to operate commercially in the UK, with some very few exceptions, and so they block their ad funded content from the UK to avoid having to sort out how to provide it without breaking the rules.
- ForHackernews 10y ago
  Apparently not: > 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. Ridiculous.
- gambiting 10y ago
  No. BBC International is not funded through British taxes but through ads - and as there is a law in the UK that prohibits BBC from showing ads here, they cannot show this content in UK. It sucks, but a simple VPN solves the issue.
  - jogjayr 10y ago
    Why can't they just turn off ads for UK visitors?
    - gambiting 10y ago
      I guess it's because then they would be getting visits which are not paid for in any way(they can't use the money off the licence fee, and they can't show ads).
      - jogjayr 10y ago
        That would be justified and consistent if they blocked visitors with adblockers, which they do not.
- harel 10y ago
  We "prefer" to call that a "TV License" because if we called it "tax" it would have negative connotations. It is also paid separately to "tax".
  - ilugaslifg 10y ago
    The term "TV License" is 1000% more offensive and outrageous, to my Canadian ears, than "TV Tax" would be. A "license" is a permit from the government to do or use something, and carries the implication that it's something that can be denied. I know it 100% functions as a tax and not in any sense as a license. And the idea of requiring government permission to have a TV carries less weight in the internet age than it would have in the past. But the wording alone still makes my blood boil. It sounds like something you'd find in North Korea.
    - noir_lord 10y ago
      I'm from the UK and it's not something that has ever bothered me so possibly a cultural thing. That said I don't have a TV License anyway since I have no requirement for one, the few bits of TV I do watch are handily covered by Netflix. Broadcast TV is horrible the few times I watch it when I'm at the GF's, after 4 years without it you forget just how bad. Ironically I consume vastly more content from the BBC via their radio content (BBC Radio 4 is heroin) which is all free without a license anyway.
    - Udik 10y ago
      > I know it 100% functions as a tax You wish. Taxes are mostly proportional to the payer's income, or wealth, or to the value of some owned good. Instead, so called "tv licenses" are fixed, such that the poorest citizen, owner of a 10inch tv found in the trash bin, is bound to pay as much as the richest taxpayer, with his multi wall-sized home cinema devices. In this respect it works exactly as the annual subscription to a TV service (it's actually called "subscription" in some countries) and it's clearly a remnant of the times when TVs were rare, expensive objects that were in themselves a proof of the wealth of their owners.
      - 10y ago
tim333 10y ago
try https://www.hotspotshield.com/ https://www.hotspotshield.com/ at least that's what I use to see this stuff

Ugh can't view from the uk

by jibbit 10y ago

Ugh can't view from the uk

dmix 10y ago

You can't view a BBC article from the UK? Don't your taxes pay for this content?

vidarh 10y ago
No. This is published by BBC's commercial arm. They're not allowed to use TV license money on it. But on the other hand, the BBC is not allowed to operate commercially in the UK, with some very few exceptions, and so they block their ad funded content from the UK to avoid having to sort out how to provide it without breaking the rules.
ForHackernews 10y ago
Apparently not: > 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. Ridiculous.
gambiting 10y ago
No. BBC International is not funded through British taxes but through ads - and as there is a law in the UK that prohibits BBC from showing ads here, they cannot show this content in UK. It sucks, but a simple VPN solves the issue.
- jogjayr 10y ago
  Why can't they just turn off ads for UK visitors?
  - gambiting 10y ago
    I guess it's because then they would be getting visits which are not paid for in any way(they can't use the money off the licence fee, and they can't show ads).
    - jogjayr 10y ago
      That would be justified and consistent if they blocked visitors with adblockers, which they do not.
harel 10y ago
We "prefer" to call that a "TV License" because if we called it "tax" it would have negative connotations. It is also paid separately to "tax".
- ilugaslifg 10y ago
  The term "TV License" is 1000% more offensive and outrageous, to my Canadian ears, than "TV Tax" would be. A "license" is a permit from the government to do or use something, and carries the implication that it's something that can be denied. I know it 100% functions as a tax and not in any sense as a license. And the idea of requiring government permission to have a TV carries less weight in the internet age than it would have in the past. But the wording alone still makes my blood boil. It sounds like something you'd find in North Korea.
  - noir_lord 10y ago
    I'm from the UK and it's not something that has ever bothered me so possibly a cultural thing. That said I don't have a TV License anyway since I have no requirement for one, the few bits of TV I do watch are handily covered by Netflix. Broadcast TV is horrible the few times I watch it when I'm at the GF's, after 4 years without it you forget just how bad. Ironically I consume vastly more content from the BBC via their radio content (BBC Radio 4 is heroin) which is all free without a license anyway.
  - Udik 10y ago
    > I know it 100% functions as a tax You wish. Taxes are mostly proportional to the payer's income, or wealth, or to the value of some owned good. Instead, so called "tv licenses" are fixed, such that the poorest citizen, owner of a 10inch tv found in the trash bin, is bound to pay as much as the richest taxpayer, with his multi wall-sized home cinema devices. In this respect it works exactly as the annual subscription to a TV service (it's actually called "subscription" in some countries) and it's clearly a remnant of the times when TVs were rare, expensive objects that were in themselves a proof of the wealth of their owners.
    - 10y ago

tim333 10y ago

try https://www.hotspotshield.com/ https://www.hotspotshield.com/ at least that's what I use to see this stuff