Best answer by Ryan S
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Outage - Alexa started BBC stations not playing
As of today I can't get BBC Radios 2 or 4 to play on my Sonos Ones. It says it's playing eg BBC Radio 4 from TuneIn but it doesn't. Anyone else getting this?
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Kaschool,
In the BBC Radio App too, it mentions some radio stations may not be available outside the UK.. See attached.
Obviously I can’t say if these things/changes, are the reason you can’t get the radio station(s), but it’s perhaps a possibility.
There is also an email address that you can write to, as shown in the attached image text.
In the BBC Radio App too, it mentions some radio stations may not be available outside the UK.. See attached.
Obviously I can’t say if these things/changes, are the reason you can’t get the radio station(s), but it’s perhaps a possibility.
There is also an email address that you can write to, as shown in the attached image text.
Duplicated
Try this ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/terms-of-use/?nolinks=yes
Hope that helps ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/terms-of-use/?nolinks=yes
Hope that helps ?
I obviously cannot answer that one, but it does mention in their 'terms' about people outside the UK being licensed through their own TV service so it's perhaps something local.
I will see if I can copy and paste the 'terms' for you to see/read.. one moment.
I will see if I can copy and paste the 'terms' for you to see/read.. one moment.
Ye I saw that skill on amazon.co.uk but it’s not available on Amazon.com. So perhaps you are right and when this was introduced it cut off the ability for US residents to listen to bbc stations. However I would think there would be many more US residents facing the same issue and yet when I browse the forums I’m not seeing people in the US with the same problem. I would expect to see many people having the same issue.
There is actually a BBC Skill on the Amazon store which now provides access to BBC radio stations. In fact it takes over priority from TuneIn in the Alexa App.
So if I were to say 'Alexa, play BBC Radio 1' ... it now automatically opens the BBC App and plays that radio station. That happens even if the skill is not installed .. it installs the skill automatically.
To revert to BBC Radio 1 on TuneIn we now have to say 'Alexa play BBC Radio 1 from TuneIn'
This change happened a few months ago and created a lot of complaints in this community.
I assume that's about the time all your troubles started and it has to do with being licensed to listen to the stations (or so I believe) obviously people in the U.K. pay for these services via a TV licence etc.
I assume you can't play things as your area isn't licenced... similarly I have no access to some radio stations like pandora etc.
That's what might be the case perhaps?
So if I were to say 'Alexa, play BBC Radio 1' ... it now automatically opens the BBC App and plays that radio station. That happens even if the skill is not installed .. it installs the skill automatically.
To revert to BBC Radio 1 on TuneIn we now have to say 'Alexa play BBC Radio 1 from TuneIn'
This change happened a few months ago and created a lot of complaints in this community.
I assume that's about the time all your troubles started and it has to do with being licensed to listen to the stations (or so I believe) obviously people in the U.K. pay for these services via a TV licence etc.
I assume you can't play things as your area isn't licenced... similarly I have no access to some radio stations like pandora etc.
That's what might be the case perhaps?
Ken, I’m not aware of a BBC skill for their radio stations and I don’t believe one is needed. There is a BBC News skill but that is a separate thing and not related to playing BBC radio stations.
Kaschool,
In the actual BBC Alexa Skill there are links to view the terms of service and provide feedback when there is a problem. I note the 'terms of use' were updated on the 24th September 2018 and mentions about having a licence ... perhaps have a read of those paragraphs and then send the BBC feedback through the troubleshooting link at the bottom of the Skill page.
In the actual BBC Alexa Skill there are links to view the terms of service and provide feedback when there is a problem. I note the 'terms of use' were updated on the 24th September 2018 and mentions about having a licence ... perhaps have a read of those paragraphs and then send the BBC feedback through the troubleshooting link at the bottom of the Skill page.
My country settings in Sonos will be US but that should not be the cause of the issue as bbc radio stations are allowed to be listened to from other countries and they have always worked in the past.
Ken I tried the utterance you suggested above but that didn’t work either. It just says bbc radio 1 on tunein live is currently not available. All other radio stations (non bbc) work fine and all streaming services and songs work fine. This issue has me baffled!
Ken I tried the utterance you suggested above but that didn’t work either. It just says bbc radio 1 on tunein live is currently not available. All other radio stations (non bbc) work fine and all streaming services and songs work fine. This issue has me baffled!
In the BBC Alexa Skill itself it says this in the notes... see attached screenshot....
Have you tried the tunein service, by saying this instead... 'Alexa, play BBC Radio 1 from Tunein'. if it’s not working, I think it maybe a (temporary) BBC issue as mentioned in their Skill notes.
Have you tried the tunein service, by saying this instead... 'Alexa, play BBC Radio 1 from Tunein'. if it’s not working, I think it maybe a (temporary) BBC issue as mentioned in their Skill notes.
Kaschool,
I have just tested BBC Radio 1 from both the BBC Alexa Skill and also from the Sonos in-built Tunein streaming service (via Alexa voice control) and both are working fine over here in the UK... it must be linked to the U.S.
Have you checked your Sonos Country Settings in your Sonos Profile via your online account login?
I have just tested BBC Radio 1 from both the BBC Alexa Skill and also from the Sonos in-built Tunein streaming service (via Alexa voice control) and both are working fine over here in the UK... it must be linked to the U.S.
Have you checked your Sonos Country Settings in your Sonos Profile via your online account login?
Userlevel 7
+20
I think it best if you contact Sonos tech support.
Followed the reboot sequence on all Sonos and Alexa echo devices and router. The issue still persists.
Tried playing bbc radio 1 via Sonos app. It says Unable to play bbc radio 1. The song is not encoded correctly.
On echo devices it says - bbc radio 1 on tune in live is currently not available.
Any further recommendations?
Tried playing bbc radio 1 via Sonos app. It says Unable to play bbc radio 1. The song is not encoded correctly.
On echo devices it says - bbc radio 1 on tune in live is currently not available.
Any further recommendations?
Userlevel 7
+20
Okay. The next thing to do is to power down the following devices for 5 secs, allowing each to complete their boot sequence before moving to the next.
- Router
- Any network switch
- Any wired Sonos device
- Any other Sonos device.
Let us know how you get on.
- Router
- Any network switch
- Any wired Sonos device
- Any other Sonos device.
Let us know how you get on.
Just disabled the Sonos skill and re-enabled it but the issue persists.
Userlevel 7
+20
I suggest that you first Disable then Re-Enable the Sonos skill within the Alexa App. Please let us know how you get on.
Very odd. How can I be having the exact same issue as reported by others in this thread from a few months ago - but only me? Is anyone else having this issue?
Userlevel 7
+20
Hi Rich
No outage reported: http://status.sonos.com/
No outage reported: http://status.sonos.com/
Hello all. BBC radio stations are again not working for me on both my Echo based devices and Sonos devices. They do not work whether I use voice or the Sonos app. I’m located in the US. Is anyone else having this issue too? I can play other radio stations just fine but BBC ones do not work. It is exactly the same issue that was described earlier in this thread.
On the echo based devices it just says something like BBC Radio 2 is not available right now.
Rich.
On the echo based devices it just says something like BBC Radio 2 is not available right now.
Rich.
Hello everyone. Thanks for the updates and details about BBC playback. According to the previously mentioned issue, that should be resolved. If you are still having problems getting radio playback through Amazon Echo, please give our support technicians a call to troubleshoot this in real time. They may need to collect more information to get to the bottom of this.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Userlevel 7
+20
It's still under investigation, but it has to do with the radio streams that Alexa picks when told to play the stations on Sonos. I believe there are some changes going out slowly right now to systems around the world and as they reach your system, you're able to get the right stations. I'll let you all know when we get the final ok that we're clear around the world.
Hi Ryan
This is fixed in most situations but not all. These are the tests I've undertaken:
1- Ask Lounge Sonos (Sonos One) to play Radio 4 or BBC Radio 4 - Success
2- Ask Echo Dot to play Radio 4 (or BBC Radio 4) - Success
3- Ask Echo Dot to play Radio 4 (or BBC Radio 4) on Lounge Sonos - Success
4- Ask Echo Dot to play Radio 4 (or BBC Radio 4) on Bedroom Sonos (Play:5 - Gen 1) - Fail
I've rebooted the Play:5 but no difference and interestingly test 4 works on my other Play:5. This is the player with the weakess wi-fi signal in my set-up but it will output Radio 4 when grouped with the Sonos One on tests 1-3!
Diag submitted #831104699
This is not working for BBC Radio 2, 3, 4 or 5 in Isle of Man but works for BBC radio 1. Alexa says “BBC radio x playing on.....” but then silence except for BBC radio 1 which plays fine. Please can you resolve?
Userlevel 7
+17
It wouldn't play BBC radio stations through google home either using Tunein, so I would guess a BBC/tunein/voice problem.
Of course the google home can play direct BBC streams outside of tunein, so no problem there.
Of course the google home can play direct BBC streams outside of tunein, so no problem there.
Everything is working fine, thanks guys for getting it sorted.
Userlevel 7
+26
It's still under investigation, but it has to do with the radio streams that Alexa picks when told to play the stations on Sonos. I believe there are some changes going out slowly right now to systems around the world and as they reach your system, you're able to get the right stations. I'll let you all know when we get the final ok that we're clear around the world.
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