BBC radio on TuneIn going away March 22nd 2021


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.


92 replies

If you mean I can use BBC Sounds in my Sonos app then yes but I want to play BBC Sounds stations (Radio 2 for example) via my Alexa Echo grouped with the Sonos which no longer seems possible. 

Found this too:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/37e4e3f6-fbd2-4c14-8d72-7f7139641582

 

You do realise that BBC Sounds is now available as a service in Sonos? 

Found this too:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/37e4e3f6-fbd2-4c14-8d72-7f7139641582

 

Thanks for the reply. I found another thread on BBC local radio after I had replied. I was using TuneIn but had tried Sonos Radio and My Tuner. Following advice on the other thread I now have full service on Radioplayer. Many thanks again.

Userlevel 7
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What is the current news on BBC local radio stations? I haven’t been able to get BBC Radio London for months (although I checked one day a couple of weeks ago and it was available then disappeared again). There is a continuous message saying “unable to play due to technical or contractual reasons”. The same seems to apply for all other local BBC stations but not the national ones, which play with no problems.


Which streaming service(s) have you tried? Some are currently offline due to the Paralympic coverage. 

Hey everyone, one (hopefully final) update for you all.

 

Through our internal testing as well as feedback from community members I can confirm that after the 22nd of March 2021 you will still be able to listen to BBC live stations through the following services:

  • Sonos Radio
  • TuneIn
  • RadioPlayer

We’re not yet 100% certain as to how other services, such as MyTunerRadio, will handle the change or if they will continue to provide live BBC Radio after the cut-off date. Therefore, I recommend switching over to one of the services I’ve confirmed above before 22nd March to avoid any interruptions to your listening experience. 

We are aware of the issues with BBC stations repeating segments and skipping backwards on some services, but this is separate from the issue discussed in this thread. I encourage you to follow the other topic for this issue for any updates on that. 

 

If anyone has any questions related to the topic in this thread feel free to ask :slight_smile:

 
 
 
 
 

What is the current news on BBC local radio stations? I haven’t been able to get BBC Radio London for months (although I checked one day a couple of weeks ago and it was available then disappeared again). There is a continuous message saying “unable to play due to technical or contractual reasons”. The same seems to apply for all other local BBC stations but not the national ones, which play with no problems.

I get a message saying:

“Unable to play ‘BBC Radio 4’ - the connection to TuneIn was lost.”

I am running the S2 Sonos app v13.0 on my iPad Air.

This is probably unrelated to the issue on this thread.  What happens if you try to play a non-BBC station.

BBC radio 4 still fine on my system.

I can play BBC Radio 4 LW via TuneIn, but no BBC Radio 4. Odd.

On my PC I can’t access Radio 4 via TuneIn on the web - the search doesn’t find it. Even more odd.

I can play Radio 4 via Online Radio Box (web browser, Chrome) on my PC.

I am at a loss to understand what’s going on.

I get a message saying:

“Unable to play ‘BBC Radio 4’ - the connection to TuneIn was lost.”

I am running the S2 Sonos app v13.0 on my iPad Air.

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Hi,

Really not happy. We lost Radio 4 as of 18th March 2021. No warning, nothing. It worked on the 17th.

It seems there is nothing I can do to restore this stream as my Play 1 does not support AirPlay. My wife is furious and got out the old analogue radio just to be able to listen to her favourite programmes.

I am in UK and pay the BBC a licence fee. What makes them think this is acceptable?

Really puzzled by this, I’m in the UK too.  I just opened Sonos and searched for BBC 4 under the stations tab and have several ways to listen to it as @James L. points out. All free and none needing airplay. 
 

Saved the station to favourites and instant easy access. 
 

Give it a try and let us know if this sorts your issue. 

Badge +17

Hi,

Really not happy. We lost Radio 4 as of 18th March 2021. No warning, nothing. It worked on the 17th.

It seems there is nothing I can do to restore this stream as my Play 1 does not support AirPlay. My wife is furious and got out the old analogue radio just to be able to listen to her favourite programmes.

I am in UK and pay the BBC a licence fee. What makes them think this is acceptable?

Hi @MisterFixit, I’m slightly confused by your post as BBC Radio 4 is definitely still available on Sonos on at least 3 different radio services. Have you spoken to our customer care team yet? They should be able to help you with whatever issue you’re facing.

Hi,

Really not happy. We lost Radio 4 as of 18th March 2021. No warning, nothing. It worked on the 17th.

It seems there is nothing I can do to restore this stream as my Play 1 does not support AirPlay. My wife is furious and got out the old analogue radio just to be able to listen to her favourite programmes.

I am in UK and pay the BBC a licence fee. What makes them think this is acceptable?

Badge +17

Hey everyone, one (hopefully final) update for you all.

 

Through our internal testing as well as feedback from community members I can confirm that after the 22nd of March 2021 you will still be able to listen to BBC live stations through the following services:

  • Sonos Radio
  • TuneIn
  • RadioPlayer

We’re not yet 100% certain as to how other services, such as MyTunerRadio, will handle the change or if they will continue to provide live BBC Radio after the cut-off date. Therefore, I recommend switching over to one of the services I’ve confirmed above before 22nd March to avoid any interruptions to your listening experience. 

We are aware of the issues with BBC stations repeating segments and skipping backwards on some services, but this is separate from the issue discussed in this thread. I encourage you to follow the other topic for this issue for any updates on that. 

 

If anyone has any questions related to the topic in this thread feel free to ask :slight_smile:

 
 
 
 
 
Userlevel 1
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No message advising service is changing on March 22nd though 

Userlevel 1
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Its repeating for me on Radioplayer James 

I’d like to know if anyone streaming live BBC Radio through TuneIn has heard this message since 9AM GMT this morning (9th March 2021). 

 
 
 
 

Hello,

I've not heard the message when listening via TuneIn (or Sonos Radio), so for the moment it appears that things are good.

Thanks,

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Sorry no skip backs on Radioplayer just on Tunein, I will run it on Radioplayer to test again now to see if the message pops up hourly & let the board know

Badge +17

Does this also fix the repeating issue when listening BBC Radio 2. The station jumps back 10 seconds or so, I have only recently experienced this issue

Hi @leedebs, no, that’s a separate issue from this one. You can follow the dedicated topic for that here:

 
 
 
 
 

ok thanks.

So we either live with BBC Radio 2 skipping backwards on Tunein but no message every hour or so telling us the service will be unavailable from 22nd March or we put up with the hourly message on BBC Radio via Radioplayer or Mytuner radio……..

You shouldn’t be hearing the message nor experiencing skip-backs on the Radioplayer service. Can you test this and let me know if you do experience either of those?

 
 
 
 
 
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Does this also fix the repeating issue when listening BBC Radio 2. The station jumps back 10 seconds or so, I have only recently experienced this issue

Hi @leedebs, no, that’s a separate issue from this one. You can follow the dedicated topic for that here:

 
 
 
 
 

ok thanks.

So we either live with BBC Radio 2 skipping backwards on Tunein but no message every hour or so telling us the service will be unavailable from 22nd March or we put up with the hourly message on BBC Radio via Radioplayer or Mytuner radio……..

Badge +17

Does this also fix the repeating issue when listening BBC Radio 2. The station jumps back 10 seconds or so, I have only recently experienced this issue

Hi @leedebs, no, that’s a separate issue from this one. You can follow the dedicated topic for that here:

 
 
 
 
 
Userlevel 1
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Does this also fix the repeating issue when listening BBC Radio 2. The station jumps back 10 seconds or so, I have only recently experienced this issue

Badge +17

Oh, i was on Sonos Radio 4.  I guess I should switch to Tunein?

I’ve sent you a private message to gather some more information :relaxed:

Oh, i was on Sonos Radio 4.  I guess I should switch to Tunein?

Badge +17

This morning the message was repeated at so we are not quite there yet.

Hi @Jedalb2,

Can you please confirm that you heard the message when listening on TuneIn? Or were you listening to a different radio service? Also, which BBC station were you listening to and approximately what time did you hear the message?

 
 
 
 
 

This morning the message was repeated at so we are not quite there yet.

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