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I listen to BBC Radio 4 every morning on my Sonos system. It's my alarm clock.

This morning there is a short audio insert just before each hour telling me that the service will be stopping on March 22nd 2021 and that I should contact my service provider to ask them how I can continue to access the BBC content.

I'm not in the UK, so the TuneIn service is still available (until now). What are the options for me to still receive my daily dose of British content over my Sonos system?

iPhone related options are not applicable in this house.

Whist I agree with @John B about waiting for confirmation of the scope of the change, here is a possible solution! 🤣🤣🤣

I haven't tested this yet as I have a broadband outage at present. 🤬🤬🤬

Assuming that BBC internet radio stations will still be available,  then you can manually add the station to Sonos via this article: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/260?language=en_US

I've also found this useful list of BBC radio station URL's

http://www.suppertime.co.uk/blogmywiki/2015/04/updated-list-of-bbc-network-radio-urls/

 

 

I can’t believe Sonos was unaware of this issue before being informed by Sonos users.

I can’t believe Sonos was unaware of this issue before being informed by Sonos users.


Why not? Every prior change the BBC has made to their streaming support has been a surprise to everyone outside the BBC.

I updated my Sonos system last autumn specifically to carry on listening to BBC Radio here in Switzerland. Sonos Port and Sonos One SL (the new model) - two of them.

What can be done?

I’ve written two messages on the BBC website today, but someone needs to go to the top. Please?

Assuming that BBC internet radio stations will still be available, 

Fingers crossed (I’ll test it now - I’ve added the relevant station and am listening to it now. Let’s see in 15 mins), but it does look like the BBC are forcing you go through the BBC Sounds app

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/supported-devices/sonos-airplay says the BBC are “looking into ways of making it possible to use the BBC Sounds app through Sonos from Android devices. “

Hello I am new to the forum but, been a Sonos user for 12 years, the above message has been on the BBC support page for well over a year and nothing has changed for Android users.

The BBC technology blog signposted this back in December BBC Blogs - Technology & Creativity Blog - Update on ICY streams for manufacturers

 

Just to confirm, I got the same message using the direct URL

To quote from 

The BBC technology blog signposted this back in December BBC Blogs - Technology & Creativity Blog - Update on ICY streams for manufacturers

 

“There is no action for listeners to take at this time and we do not anticipate any impact to your service.”

hmmm - it will stop working - that is quite an impact!!!

Re-reading the blog it looks like they are only making changes including the URLs, not withdrawing the service. However this will mean that provider of the stream needs to make changes

The BBC also have a long running issue with wanting, as a public service provider, to understand who is listening to their service and does a particular service provide ‘value for money’. There was an issue a year or so back where they talked about pulling services to certain integrators unless the integrator could provide the BBC with usage information - not sure what has happened to that issue but I do recall some discussion that Sonos would not have access withdrawn.

There is this article on the BBC website, but it's not giving us good news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/45fa0731-189c-43eb-8e4f-3071b8384895

It does like from the blog post, that it might be down to TuneIn to resoive, since they are the ultimate provider, unless we can get the new direct URL

Hi everyone,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’re aware of the BBC’s messaging and are investigating how this will affect BBC streams on Sonos going forward. We don’t have anything else to share at this time, but we’ll update this thread with any further information going forward.

 

Surprised and disappointed that Sonos were unaware of this

Unaware of what? We don't know what the implications for Sonos are yet (if any). The entire Internet seemed to be unaware of it a couple of hours ago when I looked.

Please folks wait for clarification.  Tbe BBC withdrew its Internet radio streams from tbe TuneIn service 18 months ago. BBC Sounds has never been integrated into the Sonos system. Let's just see what is actually going to happen on 22 March and then panic if need be.

There is this article on the BBC website, but it's not giving us good news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/45fa0731-189c-43eb-8e4f-3071b8384895

I think this is the issue I was thinking about. I am not a direct tunein user but have a feeling that BBC is not available as a live stream in the UK but it is still available via Sonos. However the new announcement may require Tunein to make changes if the stream is to continue

 

There is this article on the BBC website, but it's not giving us good news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/45fa0731-189c-43eb-8e4f-3071b8384895

I think this is the issue I was thinking about. I am not a direct tunein user but have a feeling that BBC is not available as a live stream in the UK but it is still available via Sonos. However the new announcement may require Tunein to make changes if the stream is to continue

 

@Ralpfocus   I think you correctly identified the relevant issue when you provided this link:

The BBC technology blog signposted this back in December BBC Blogs - Technology & Creativity Blog - Update on ICY streams for manufacturers

But the BBC stations have not been on TuneIn for 18 months.  Sonos doesn’t access URLs through TuneIn.  TuneIn just acts as a URL lookup service.  Sonos itself gets the streams direct.  The question at hand is how this arrangement will be affected.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We’re aware of the BBC’s messaging and are investigating how this will affect BBC streams on Sonos going forward. We don’t have anything else to share at this time, but we’ll update this thread with any further information going forward.

 

Surprised and disappointed that Sonos were unaware of this

Unaware of what? We don't know what the implications for Sonos are yet (if any). The entire Internet seemed to be unaware of it a couple of hours ago when I looked.

Please folks wait for clarification.  Tbe BBC withdrew its Internet radio streams from tbe TuneIn service 18 months ago. BBC Sounds has never been integrated into the Sonos system. Let's just see what is actually going to happen on 22 March and then panic if need be.

Unaware of this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help/questions/supported-devices/internet-radio-closure

I’d expect Sonos & the BBC to have better communication.  People are getting the audio message notification.  However, I haven’t heard it and have listened to Radio 6 Music through TuneIn this afternoon.

The only reason that Sonos might be aware of this before the rest of us is if there was a BBC plugin for Sonos. There isn’t, all access for BBC content is through other providers, i.e. TuneIn or MyRadio.com, or direct links to web streams. Those companies might have been aware of the issue, we don’t know, but there would be no reason for the BBC to inform Sonos.

@John B are you saying that if I select Tunein as my source for BBC stations that in actual fact Sonos just gets the URL and uses that direct?

I have done some BBC listening using Radioplayer this afternoon and do not recall getting the announcement.

@John Bare you saying that if I select Tunein as my source for BBC stations that in actual fact Sonos just gets the URL and uses that direct?

That is exactly how TuneIn and Sonos work, yes.

My better half just heard the message whilst listening to BBC radio via myTuner radio, so more than one service has missed the BBC announcement.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/481e7233-0aea-4b15-8ace-878ce549108c#comments

Someone has already posted this link here, I think.

According to this article, action is required by Sonos.

@John Bare you saying that if I select Tunein as my source for BBC stations that in actual fact Sonos just gets the URL and uses that direct?

Yes, which is just one of the reasons why the title of this thread rather misses the nature of the possible problem for Sonos. 

I have a friend with a naim Mu-So speaker which uses VTuner for Internet radio and that service is not interrupted every hour with the BBC message quoted.  Perhaps suggest Sonos investigates this service as an alternative.

I use Sonos for BBC Radio 3 and 4.

Programmes have been interrupted this week with announcements saying access will no longer apply from 22 March.

Then today radio 3 has disappeared completely. Sonos say TuneIn is being replaced by RadioPlayer but that doesn’t seem to have happened yet☹️

Anyone have any ideas?

Hey everyone,

 

Just a quick update on this subject. We’re still working with TuneIn to resolve any changes that the BBC are putting in place and hope to have a resolution soon.

In the meantime, we can suggest a work-around so that you no longer hear the hourly reminder.

If you’re in the following regions, you can add the RadioPlayer service on Sonos to play BBC Live Radio. RadioPlayer is a free service partly owned by the BBC and so far doesn’t appear to have the hourly reminder present.

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Germany
  • Gibraltar
  • Guernsey
  • Isle of Man
  • Italy
  • Ireland
  • Jersey
  • Norway
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom

Also, if you have Airplay compatible devices, you can Airplay from the BBC Sounds app on your iOS device to Sonos.

As some users have pointed out, the BBC has posted a blog outlining some information about the upcoming changes, you can find that here: Changes to access of BBC live radio streams on selected TuneIn platforms in the UK

 
 
 
 
 

Thank you James, that has been very helpful:thumbsup:

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