Local radio stations.

[Roger Watson]

Has anyone else been unable to access their local radio station, mine is radio Kent and up to yesterday worked perfectly. Now I get a  pre recorded message this station is unavailable due to contractual reasons or a problem try latter. its still no available, it appears to affect all local radio stations. I have updated radio lists and the latest software. any info would be appreciated.

[Mark Fishman]

The BBC's own stream page for Radio Kent (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_kent) carries the same message. I suspect it has something to do with streaming rights for current programming, or else a problem at the Beeb. It is NOT a B2-related problem, since it exists directly from the BBC.

-- m.

[Mark Fishman]

The B2 uses vTuner, who are an aggregator: they point their streams at the official BBC URLs, which are the ones used by the BBC Listen Live pages. Do you have a URL for Radio Kent's website?

On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 5:15 PM Roger Watson <...> wrote:

I am able to stream it from radio Kents website and from Radio player so I don't think its a BBC problem, the problem seams to be with Tunein which I guess is the system Brennan uses.

[PMB]

Hi All,

It appears that Radio 5 isn't working either - I think it's possibly something to do with the Olympics and broadcasting sports commentary.... Radio 2, 3 and 4 work OK.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Roger Watson]

Thanks Paul

It works from Kents website ok and from Radioplayer, Its just Tunein and vTuner websites that you get the Contractual message.

Thanks to all who have commented.

Roger

[Kevin Packard]

Interesting as I too have now “lost” my local station BBC Essex. What should we do? Accepted that it’s not directly a Brennan problem, should we complain to vTuner etc? The access to Digital radio without using a pc was another tick box in choosing the Brennan.

Cheers, Kevin

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Kevin,

You have not "lost" access to internet radio from the B2, the B2 continues to be able to receive internet radio as it did before. It is the PROVIDERS of the internet radio that are changing things. if you search for "BBC Essex" using the B2 radio search facility (see below) it is there and works (see below).

If you want it in your presets then you just need to "re-do" the preset.

Choose one form the above list.

[PMB]

Hi All,

Found this on the BBC site -

*** Friday 23 July ***

During the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, local BBC radio stations will not be available online to listeners located outside the UK. National stations will be available, however some programmes, or segments of programmes, might be unavailable during this time. This is due to rights reasons.

This may also impact some UK listeners if the device accessing the stream uses Shoutcast. Shoutcast has one stream covering both the UK and overseas, so these will be unavailable at this time. If your device is affected, you'll hear a looping message advising that the stream isn't available at the moment.

If you're within the UK and unable to listen, please check the following FAQ for info on how to listen on a different device in the meantime: How do I listen live?

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics started on Friday 23 July and finish on Sunday 8 August. After this date, BBC radio stations will stream as normal for both international listeners, and UK listeners on affected devices.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Mark Fishman]

yet another reason the "2020" (ha) olympics should have been cancelled. The people in Japan didn't want them, either.

Pfui.

[Kevin Packard]

Hi, thanks all for comments.

Fred - Thanks for the re-tuning advice. I had already done that and have just done that again now. No joy, the recorded announcement just says “Thank you for listening to BBC local radio on the internet. Unfortunately, the current programme on this station is unavailable. This is either due to contractual reasons or a temporary technical fault. Please try again later .... etc.”

It’s the same for all BBC local radio stations but the BBC nationals all seem available. I understand that it’s not directly a Brennan problem and that I can receive local radio stations via internet on other devices eg. A stand-alone Sonos unit. 

So the problem seems some sort of a contractual or technical issue between vTuner and the BBC maybe? Taking the Olympics point (although I am located in UK), I’ll wait until it is over but is there another “solution” or work-around for this problem? It’s very irritating.

Cheers, Kevin

[Mark Fishman]

>  some sort of a contractual or technical issue between vTuner and the BBC maybe?

No.

vTuner, like many other aggregators, supply the URLs for the MP3 Shoutcast-style streams supplied by the BBC, for maximum compatibility. As the BBC has explained, they have only ONE mp3 stream perstation, and it is available internationally. Thus it doesn't matter where you live, if you connect to the mp3 stream, you get the same stream.

The BBC do not have international broadcast rights to sports events. So the internationally-available streams do not carry programs that are covering the Tokyo Olympics.

There is no technical issue.

The contractual issue is between the BBC and the sports events, which have their own rights restrictions.

vTuner has nothing to do with it.

Brennan has nothing to do with it.

There are some alternate streams of a completely different type that are available to UK residents only. Those streams use ADTS or HLS, a completely different method of streaming, that many devices cannot handle even if they can be pointed to them. (examples for Radio Kent:

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_med/ak/bbc_radio_kent.m3u8

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/hls/uk/sbr_high/ak/bbc_radio_kent.m3u8)

This lack of compatibility is why vTuner chose to use the more compatible streams, which unfortunately run afoul of the international-rights problem.

When the Tokyo Olympics end, you'll get your local station (international) streams back again. Meanwhile, if you actually live in the UK, why not use an actual radio?

[Kevin Packard]

Ok, thanks for your comprehensive comments Mark, I now understand the issue more clearly.

With regard to your “use an actual radio” comment, let me assure you that as a lifelong radio enthusiast and radio amateur, I have a house full of real radios from shortwave to AM, FM and digital which are used all the time. The point is that I purchased the Brennan (which I really like) to give me a compact music and radio solution controllable remotely by the app/GUI in a particular room hence minimising all the usual mass of separates and cabling.

Cheers, Kevin

[Mark Fishman]

I received the following from the BBC today:

Dear  Audience Member 

Thanks for getting in contact with BBC Sounds Support to report that you have been experiencing some problems listening to certain programmes and stations on Sounds, due to rights restrictions.

We just wanted to get back in touch to advise you that as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are now over, these restrictions have been lifted.

You should now be able to listen to the programmes and stations that were unavailable.

We hope this helps and thanks again. 

Kind Regards

BBC iPlayer & BBC Sounds Support Team 

[PMB]

Thanks Mark!

Paul

Brennan Support.