The Great BBC Video Firewall

As I wrote yesterday I don’t miss consuming UK media very much. Bizarrely and very meta-ly, some of the UK media I do listen to is about… media. Media podcasts. Media Talk from the Guardian and The Media Show from BBC Radio. Both available to me as free podcasts. Both highly recommended and appreciated. I can also listen to real-time streamed radio from all the UK stations. Audio it seems can cross borders with ease.

Which brings me on to the BBC iPlayer. Or as I like to call it the “Not available in your area”. One has to be blessed with an IP address apparently in the UK before one can view the iPlayer content. I guess there are millions of people with an un-blessed IP address outside the UK that would gladly pay to get access to the iPlayer. But the BBC can only give it away and only in the UK. This could be a possible extra revenue stream to the poor cash strapped BBC in the future. Something to think about when the license fee negotiations re-start.

The “Not available in your area” can get a little over zealous. The BBC R&D blog recently posted a video of the move into south lab. Interesting viewing for any engineer and rather benign you would think. But it’s: Not available in your area. I’m assuming this is an iPlayer quirk and not the intentional banning of international viewing of engineers in hard hats. (NSFIV: Not Suitable For International Viewers.) It is after all rather geeky uncommercial content filmed on BBC premises by BBC staff. Ah well. I can only imagine the joy they must be feeling on moving from the beautiful leafy peaceful surroundings of Kingswood Warren to White City.