BBC Radio 4 rights restrictions

Same problem here. I tried installing a different app…mytuner but it still happens.  don’t seem to have the same problem on other bbc stations???? driving me mad!

Radio 4 cutting out repeatedly this morning, repeating message about “rights” cutting in randomly and frequently. 
Can someone tell me why? Hoped this was a thing of the past

Hey everyone,

This message is not specific to Sonos and is not something that we’re injecting into the radio feed. Any questions around this would need to be directed to the BBC, as it’s ultimately their decision as to where their programmes are broadcast. We do not have any further insight as to why you may be hearing this message over specific programmes, nor do we have the ability to remove it. Please get in touch with the BBC with any further questions around this.

I had this all morning as well. Quite annoying while making the breakfast in the kitchen. On the Naim streamer in the living room the feed was not interrupted.

Sorry but frankly this is passing the buck. Like others on this thread I am a UK based listener. If I can listen to BBC on my conventional FM radio then it is specific to Sonos.  Maybe it is specific to Sonos and some other streaming services but as I only listen to Sonos then afaik it is specific to Sonos. Another reply here says it was working fine on a different streamed service. 

If I turned on my FM radio and it delivered the same message then I would contact the BBC.  I did not try but I am pretty sure I would have not had the same problem if I had accessed the stream via BBC Sounds on my phone.  Next time it happens I will try that.  If it can be listened to on BBC Sounds then surely Sonos would accept that it should also be listened to on Sonos.  

The reason for the message must be that something somewhere is checking for the location of the listener and incorrectly thinking they are not in the UK.  That check is at least in part the responsibility of Sonos and presumably part of some licensing agreement that exists between the BBC and streamed service providers (in this case Sonos).  This agreement will cover delivery of content to non UK listeners.    

We are not talking about some obscure broadcaster or radio station.  Assuming said licensing agreement between Sonos and the BBC, then you are their customer.  So you can report it to them as an issue for them to investigate with you as it is impacting your customers and so is your problem.  

Perhaps some insight as to how BBC streams are provided to Sonos might help here. 

The BBC provides a streaming link to a few different internet streaming services, including TuneIn, Radioplayer and MyTuner Radio. These services have integrations into the Sonos system, which allows users to listen to these streams on Sonos players. Any content provided by these streams that is able to be played on Sonos is directly under the control of the content provider or the radio service aggregator. Sonos does not have any control over the content that these streams provide, nor do we inject messaging around region restrictions. These messages are coming from the stream provided by the BBC that has been given to the radio service. Sonos Radio uses the streams that TuneIn has, so the experience will be the same between those two. 

If you’re hearing unexpected messaging, then that is coming from the BBC via the streams that they provide. All Sonos is doing here is allowing you to select that stream from the radio service, and connecting to the server provided by the content provider (BBC in this case). Please, direct your questions to the BBC and understand that we’re not “passing the buck”, we’re simply unable to control what the BBC sends via their streaming link.

If you take your responsibilities to your customers seriously or indeed have any pride in the service you offer you would take ownership of the problem yourselves and talk to the BBC on behalf of your customers instead of adopting this “not our problem” attitude (which stinks).

Don't be ridiculous, James. When many satisfied customers in the UK flag up a problem that didn't previously exist it behoves you to look into this. The BBC must have changed something in how they recognise "foreign" streaming services. You are providing these streams. Your investigation will be much more productive than ours. Please look into it. This attitude will not win you many friends and will lose you customers.

For goodness sake, this is nothing to do with Sonos.  Complain to the BBC, if you really think this one-off annoyance justifies your time in doing so.  I suspect this arose because radio 4 was this morning playing various clips of football commentary, ahead of tonight’s England - Germany clash.  It is usually the case that if internet streams of sports commentary are blanked out, there is something making the BBC think you are outside the UK.  This is entirely different from FM broadcasts.  It is unlikely to be Sonos that is responsible for that.

It sounds as though the BBC made a bit of a mess of this this morning so that it affected non-sports items, but that’s not a Sonos issue.

For the avoidance of doubt I am not a Sonos staff member, so I feel free to say that directing criticism to Sonos for this makes little sense..  

Amen to all that. Don’t shoot the messenger. Sonos simply connects a player to a server address that it’s been given by TuneIn or whoever. What comes down the pipe -- and whatever geo-restriction policy is applied to the content based on the user’s end-point location --- is entirely down to the content provider. In this case it’s the BBC.