Why are the BBC hiding this from us?

chickenboy

This might sound a bit paranoid, but was just surfing the web, found a link to a BBC article on what i wanted, and (am reading from the UK, a TV licence fee payer) the BBC page instead comes back with this message:

BBC Future (international version)
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 https://www.bbcworldwide.com.

Erm - what - so everyone else in the world who does not pay a licence fee can see it, but because I PAY, I cannot see it??

Used a proxy and viewed it straight away. For anyone interested/puzzled, here's the link:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130412-bitcoin-and-the-illusion-of-money

Syman

chickenboy wrote: »

This might sound a bit paranoid, but was just surfing the web, found a link to a BBC article on what i wanted, and (am reading from the UK, a TV licence fee payer) the BBC page instead comes back with this message:

BBC Future (international version)
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.

Erm - what - so everyone else in the world who does not pay a licence fee can see it, but because I PAY, I cannot see it??

Used a proxy and viewed it straight away. For anyone interested/puzzled, here's the link:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130412-bitcoin-and-the-illusion-of-money

You don't pay.

Lagoon

It is interesting that they apparently tie their website to the license fee. People in the UK without TV licenses can still view the BBC website.

chickenboy

They are arguing that profits from BBC Worldwide go back into funding BBC programme making - and thus reducing the licence fee that I pay.

Users outside the UK do not pay. They may subscribe to a cable network which funds BBC worldwide, or watch adverts which fund BBC Worldwide.

But the question remains, what do they gain (or risk losing) if we see the content???

bod1467

chickenboy wrote: »

But the question remains, what do they gain (or risk losing) if we see the content???

That's a fair question. And the answer is - probably nothing. Indeed, why go to the expense of filtering the contents to EXCLUDE people in the UK?

I could (maybe) understand if they wanted to exclude certain countries from accessing certain content (although any efforts they made can be easily circumvented), but I can't see any reason why the UK would be excluded.

paddyrg

chickenboy wrote: »

But the question remains, what do they gain (or risk losing) if we see the content???

Intellectual property rights are complicated - it is not just possible but likely that the rights for different territories are tied into different commercial deals based on viewing figures in different territories. Allowing access from the UK would likely be excluded from those deals as it is the home market, the domestic transmission agreements frequently only cover 1 playout and one repeat, this would likely breach that and cost dramatically more than the overseas deal.

Darksun

chickenboy wrote: »

But the question remains, what do they gain (or risk losing) if we see the content???

There are restrictions placed on the BBC limiting commercial operations within the UK

RobTang

could be they cant be bothered to strip the adverts from the page or the way the articles are funded is in conflict with the home mandate

Nilrem

IIRC the BBC internation website is likely operated by BBC:Worldwide and thus might not be able to have the adverts stripped for the UK.

On the other hand it's fairly easy to add adverts to the main UK site for viewing abroad.

As Darksun says there are very strict limits on what the BBC can and cannot do in the UK in regards to commercial activities.
Or even just things the commercial sector don't like them doing (from memory a few years back they had to get rid of a load of educational sites because the commercial sector claimed it was affecting their businesses - but the commercial sector never picked up the slack in terms of websites).

Also as has been said, intellectual property rights are complicated, so it's entirely possible an article on one version of a website intended for one country may not be viewable in another country.