SemiNoTV: BBC Brings Down Paywall in US (and Nowhere Else)

[Mark Jeffries]

Access to the BBC's acclaimed (for the most part) news coverage online now costs you $8.99 a month or $49.99 a year, including livestreaming the 24/7 BBC News channel, although certain breaking stories, podcasts and streaming of documentaries will remain free, along with streaming of the UK's "speech" format Radio 4 and the World Service (although the UK's news-talk-sports Radio 5 Live is not mentioned)--the U.S. is the only country where Beeb content is behind a paywall:

https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/bbc-us-website-paywall-subscription-pricing-te1236441560/?utm_source=www.status.news&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=the-60-minutes-missive&_bhlid=553d143a138deff7752b217945ea87505743541a

The reasoning seems to be that the website is run in the U.S. by BBC Studios, the Beeb's for-profit arm (and the U.S. version of bbc.com has included advertising for some time)--in the U.S., they also co-produce American versions of BBC shows, most notably "Ghosts" and "Dancing with the Stars" (they also produce the U.S. version on Fox of the ITV game show "The 1% Club," interestingly enough).