Kitz Forum
Internet => Web Browsing & Email => Topic started by: hake on March 30, 2011, 08:03:18 PM
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Anyone else got this problem? A few weeks ago the BBC video clips stopped working for me. No change of browser configuration had taken place and it affected all my systems. I use Windows XP and Ubuntu. The video player rectangle briefly shows a red circle then nothing. The red circle implies proscription perhaps?
I cannot play the F1 Grand Prix highlights on
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9437659.stm for example.
Web page says video is 'Available to UK users only.' Hmmmmmmm. I have a notion that the BBC is blocking some IP addresses in error. My IP address is allocated by PlusNet, a UK ISP. It is a static IP address so I am unable to vary it.
The following plays OK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/susanwatts/2010/02/new_flaws_in_chip_and_pin_syst.html
No note about 'Available to UK users only' here.
Fortunately iPlayer works fine and I have no trouble viewing similar content on ITV.COM or YouTube.
Not much return for a UK TV licence tax payer. I have paid for this content.
The Beeb's response is typically bovine headed. "Have you enabled JavaScript?" they ask. Yes it is. It never occurs to them that they could have blocked my IP address and presumably they consider that eventuality an impossibility.
Why does the BBC waste its money distributing this material while preventing people in the UK from watching it?
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This is an issue that you need to take up with your ISP to resolve with the BBC.
(PlusNet - raise a ticket, or maybe better start a thread in the forums and see who else is affected)
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I had this type of problem when I changed to LLU. Luckily my ISP - ADSL24 - got the problem fixed within a few days. Good luck with PlusNet.
But it sound a bit odd if the problem suddenly appeared with a BBC site you'd used previously.
Cheers,
Peter
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Thanks guys. I have formally raised the issue with PlusNet's excellent support team.
I expect people to make occasional mistakes. That's called being human (and I'm VERY human). What really gets me down is when people (usually belonging to large organisations) refuse to even countenance the possibility that they have made a mistake.
You'd think that the BBC would have good customer communications but they are really very poor. My take is that the BBC like M$ is a large deaf organisation which is entering the red giant phase of its existence.
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It seems that changing Flash Global Storage Settings to disallow storage of third party Flash content stops much of the BBC streaming content. I did this to stop tracking by Flash cookies and streaming content from ITV.COM and others continues to work.
A BBC forum has a brief discussion about this: -
BBC News Flash Player Bug
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbiplayer/NF13735683?thread=7780215
It's nice to know why there is a problem. I can do without BBC's streaming content now I have control of the situation.