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I have said this before and I will say it again...Dear BBC, please allow the rest of the world to pay for a subscription to the iPlayer. Just take my money, rea
by myrandomcomment 6y ago
I have said this before and I will say it again...Dear BBC, please allow the rest of the world to pay for a subscription to the iPlayer. Just take my money, really, please?
- robertlagrant 6y agoIt's astonishing this doesn't happen.
- nisa 6y agoNot really. There are probably ton's of licence boilerplate that requires extra money for the possibility that someone might watch from a different country. Even content that appears to be directly from the BBC is probably created by some firm that and gave it under some licence terms to the BBC. There was a stalled imitative to end this bullshit at least inside the EU but the content-lobby was stronger.
- CodeGlitch 6y agoGeniune question: what is on the BBC that you would want to watch that you can't get elsewhere?
- bitcharmer 6y agoBBC has awesome content in areas such as nature, science, history. For example go check out BBC Earth or BBC knowledge series.
- CodeGlitch 6y agoCheck out History Hit TV [1] - a lot of stuff by Dan Snow who is a great presenter IMHO. [1] https://tv.historyhit.com/ https://tv.historyhit.com/
- bitcharmer 6y agoThis is great; very valuable content. Thanks for sharing!
- rvz 6y agoYes. Their content in BBC 4 and 2, History archives and Earth series has some quality there and is probably worth looking at. Everything else on BBC Online (BBC 3, Reels, Entertainment section, Politics and Newsbeat) is not worth looking at.
- aurea 6y agoAntiques Roadshow, Gardeners’ World, University Challenge, Mastermind… yes I’m a British grandpa at heart. I would pay for iPlayer to watch these.
- mhh__ 6y agoThe BBC's peak output isn't all that different from anywhere else, but the professionalism and quality of median BBC show exceeds pretty much anywhere else I find - History documentaries that aren't about Ancient Aliens (low-hanging fruit, but still).
- myrandomcomment 6y agoBetween myself and my wife...Dr. Who, University Challenge, Only Connect, Death In Paradise, Escape To The Country, Top Gear (they have the formula right now after some false starts), tons of good mystery shows, lots of great new comedies, etc. I can “find” them all elsewhere but I would be happy to pay for them as a service.
- petepete 6y agoThe content from BBC4 in general. Mainly the wide array of in-depth documentaries presented by experts. Yes, there've been loads of TOTP reruns since their budget was slashed and there may be some overlap with Sky Arts in some areas, but no channel comes close. Notable excellent non-docs include Screenwipe, Only Connect, Detectorists (my favourite sitcom from the last ten years), The Thick of It. I'd pay my licence fee just for BBC4, Radio 4 and BBC News.
- wombatmobile 6y agoNews reporting and current affairs analysis that isn’t constrained by commercial interests.
- midasuni 6y agoBBC world is far better than domestic output, and is available globally (just not in the U.K.)
- bitcharmer 6y agoUnfortunately this is common across many countries. I'm an expat in UK and would love to get (paid) access to content from my home country (in UE) but it's simply not possible. Seems like state TV still has a long way to go.
- midasuni 6y agoI actually used the pirate bay last year for the first time in what feels like decades, because CBS wouldn’t give me any way to watch Lower Decks. Netflix and Amazon carry Discovery and Picard, but when it came to LD nobody wanted my money because I live in 95% of the world.
- londons_explore 6y agoThey think they'll make more money by selling exclusive geographic rights to each show to some local TV station or streaming site in each country. It makes a bit of sense - a local outfit probably has far more marketing reach, a bigger local audience, can schedule release at the optimal moment not during some local sport match, and can tailor the content locally (translations, censorship).
- mhh__ 6y agoBritbox is supposed to be that, I think, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the BBC cannot legally sell iPlayer subscriptions as easily as you'd think because the BBC's copyright library (especially music) is unbelievable[1] compared to most other organizations, so they'd have to make multiple versions of everything on their books to deal with licencing issues. Lots of British shows get their soundtracks neutered because of this when they are sold abroad. [1] Example: Sky Sports F1 is pretty big budget, but they're still stuck using [knock-off version of The Chain] rather than the real thing, whereas the BBC can break out a really expensive song (e.g. Money for nothing by Dire Straits) for a throwaway segment.
- jeremycarter 6y agoIs this because they operate radio stations or some other licensing deal?
- rtkwe 6y agoBenefits of being a quasi-governmental media agency I bet, the laws get written to give you access to most things at very low or zero cost.
- tobylane 6y agoI’m surprised to hear that, because my understanding is that all the major broadcasters have a blanket licence to play all music (from major record labels). They can just stick a top 40 hit in the background of a soap without planning for it. Maybe that doesn’t apply to something as primary as the shows theme song.
- soneil 6y agoI believe that’s exactly the problem - that licence is only good for the UK. When shows are exported they’ll gut them. Top Gear is the best example I know of, on the netflix & bbc america versions, most the recognisable songs have been replaced by musak.
- ortusdux 6y agoI would imagine a majority of the issue is music licensing rights, as those are usually only purchased for the destination country.
- mhh__ 6y agoAs I've mentioned in my bigger comment down the thread, the BBC's music (and other material, even things like Album Covers) library is genuinely gargantuan.
- hadrien01 6y agoThey had a BBC iPlayer subscription for Europe a few years ago, but there was far less content (because of rights management, obviously).