What have you been asking us lately?
Why can't I access the Broadband site any more?
The Broadband site is no longer supported as we are making way for improved streaming and download services in the future. If you wish to find video content please return to the BBC homepage.
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I'm in the UK but you're telling me I'm not.
Please accept our apologies for any confusion caused by this error message.
Regrettably our systems are currently unable to confirm whether
an IP address that is not on our database is UK-based or not. Consequently,
when an IP address is not recognised, you see the message stating
that you are not in the UK. Please accept our apologies for this.
We are currently working on a solution that will display a more
meaningful message.
It is likely that you can't access the BBC broadband content for
the same reasons as those shown above. However, we have identified other things that can cause problems.
- Certain web accelerators send information though proxies in the USA or Europe. This can block our video streams and we suggest turning these off when accessing UK content.
- Some proxies do not send the http x forward access which we need to ensure that non-UK residents are not using proxies to access rights restricted material. If you are a network admin please enable http x forward.
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Why is broadband content available to UK residents only?
Broadband content is expensive for the BBC to stream. The BBC has therefore decided to limit access to most of its broadband content to people in the UK in order to ensure best value for the UK licence fee. In addition, there are often broadcast rights restrictions which mean that content intended for a UK audience cannot be made available overseas.
However, audiences to the BBC News website from outside the UK can now choose to see news video clips in broadband. This service is provided by BBC World, the BBC's international, commercially-funded news channel. Clips may therefore have advertising around the video. Overseas users who wish to view news clips without ads will still be able to access the narrowband service, which continues to be available without advertising.
You can also view some BBC entertainment content via BBC Worldwide on YouTube. This is also a commercially-funded service and therefore includes a limited amount of advertising around the video content.
For details of other BBC international services, such as BBC World, BBC World Service and BBC America, please see bbc.co.uk/info/channels. There may also be commercial providers who have deals with the BBC in your particular territory.
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I'm a UK licence fee payer currently overseas - how do I
access BBC video and audio content?
As we have said above, broadband content is expensive for the BBC to stream. The BBC has therefore decided to limit access to BBC broadband content, other than the commercially-funded services described above, to people in the UK. This is in order to ensure best value for the UK licence fee.
Regrettably we do not have the infrastructure to allow UK residents
(only) to access these services while abroad, in the same way as
much of our TV and radio content cannot be accessed overseas.
We apologise for any disappointment, but hope we have your understanding.
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Why is some content only available in Real format? I want
to use Windows Media Player, Quick Time or something else.
When the BBC first wanted to launch audio and video on its website,
'streaming' technology was fairly new and, at the time, RealPlayer
was predominantly used. Consequently we entered into an agreement
with Real to provide the software
(for free) to users of the BBC site.
Since that time, streaming has become more popular and the number
of applications using streaming has increased, including video streaming
on our broadband site. As a result, you and other users have asked
that we consider supporting other software. The issue faced by the
BBC is that we must add infrastructure for each type of software
supported, and increasing the number of software applications means
an increased cost to licence fee payers. We are constantly looking
to strike a balance between what our viewers and listeners would
like and spending the licence fee wisely.
Having said that, we appreciate that the current situation is not
ideal. Indeed, we are currently offering the content of our digital
only radio channels, and most of our news and sport clips and
streams on both RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. Regrettably, because of the considerable amount of content we offer, we currently cannot
offer this across the board.
We have ensured that versions of RealPlayer are available as free
downloads for virtually all types of hardware and operating systems
(Windows, Mac, Linux and more), so that everyone can have access
to our content regardless of the equipment that they choose to use.
For your information, we conduct ongoing feedback reviews into
what software and applications we use across the BBC site. Doing
so ensures that we listen to what our audience wants and your feedback
will be used as part of this process.
While we realise this is not very helpful in the short term, we
hope it goes some way to assuring you that we are taking your feedback
seriously. We ask that you bear with us, as we hope to offer more
content across more platforms in the not-too-distant future.
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Why can't I see/hear video and audio files on the BBC service?
You may not have the correct version of the RealPlayer plug-in. BBC broadband requires version 8 or higher - the latest version can be downloaded free from Real Media. To watch video clips on bbc.co.uk/bbctwo you will need a Shockwave Player or Flash Player plug-in installed. These can be downloaded free from the Adobe website.
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The BBC and any service provider we engage will use the information you supply to respond to your queries/comments, to develop and enhance our services and for statistical analysis of audiences and users. For full details of our policy regarding the personal information we collect about you, visit our privacy policy page.
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