BBC website defaulting to International

Propellerhead

Annoyingly, I can't get the BBC website to switch to the domestic version at the moment on Firefox.

It would make sense for it to default to International only if it was Prime etc that we view, of course it isn't. And don't get me started on the iPlayer or blocking subsites like Torchwood on the grounds of foreign rights when no broadcaster here has taken it up.

Do the Chinese take tips from Little Englanders on blocking the Interweb?

Mossy Monk

Propellerhead wrote: »

Annoyingly, I can't get the BBC website to switch to the domestic version at the moment on Firefox.

It would make sense for it to default to International only if it was Prime etc that we view, of course it isn't. And don't get me started on the iPlayer or blocking subsites like Torchwood on the grounds of foreign rights when no broadcaster here has taken it up.

Do the Chinese take tips from Little Englanders on blocking the Interweb?

The same happens for UK viewers wanting to use the RTÉ Player. Regardless of what BBC channels you have you are still a foreigner in their eyes.

mjsmyth

The BBC work out your location from your IP Address. According to the info you provide, you are in Celbridge, which to the best of my knowledge is not part of Great Britain or Northern Ireland. As such, iPlayer will not work for you as it is only available to those in the UK and NI.

You can still choose local versions of the BBC news site by clicking here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hi/default.stm

As Mossy says, RTE do the same when accessing the RTE Player.

watty

That link is not the same thing.

They deliberately removed the manual selection of UK or International version and the cookie that stores which you selected. They claim that both have same content, but differently organised.

It's an arrogent thoughtless change made no doubt to make serving adverts easier for them to non-UK viewers.


You can ONLY select the UK version of the site by by having a UK IP

Peter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/d/

The 'd' obviously standing for domestic. Hope that helps.

Peter

watty

No, that is not the UK BBC News site. There is no different URL for it.

icdg

Neither of those links to the domestic BBC News site. One allows you to go to the particular Nation or Region website and the other brings up the main BBC homepage.

There isn't a way to select which edition of BBC News you get anymore. Period. Unfortunately this effects Irish readers because unlike most international viewers, we receive BBC Domestic services and not the overseas ones, therefore the UK site is more relevant for us.

Peter

watty wrote: »

No, that is not the UK BBC News site. There is no different URL for it.

And where does the original post mention anything about the news site? The op seemed more interested in getting info on the domestic channels instead of the intl ones, which the link provides.

marclt

For more about it follow this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2009/07/changes_to_international_pages_2.html

You could always email the BBC with your views and you are very likely to get a decent response!

Apparently the UK version of the news pages is still available here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/

watty

Without a UK ip I can't verify that.

It seems similar to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/default.stm

I'm skeptical that's the UK version of http://news.bbc.co.uk/ but you could be right.
I'll have to get my sister to open up a vpn for me

I did already email BBC (I also used to work for them). No reply.

Also no reply on the issue of monitoring/tracking page clicks and passing them on to 3rd parties. They claim to have stopped doing this to UK ips.

bk

Just tried from work where I have various international proxies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/ is almost exactly the same as the standard UK site and can be accessed from anywhere.

The only difference seems to be two links to the BBC news and BBC radio 1 streaming service.

I can post screen shots later if people like.

watty

/me dons tin foil hat.

Today...

Thanks bk

Propellerhead

Peter wrote: »

And where does the original post mention anything about the news site? The op seemed more interested in getting info on the domestic channels instead of the intl ones, which the link provides.

Hello, OP here.

It's both. My toolbar link to BBC News is useless because what happens in London is a damn sight more interesting to me than Dar-es-Salaam. In addition it feels very alien to be kicked out to the international version of the front page.

The "d" version of the website thoughtfully provided is now my home page and I'll use the news link provided here for my toolbar.

Thanks to those who engaged with this and a big FU to those in the BBC looking over their shoulders at the Daily Heil who caused this unnecessary problem in the first place. This is not China and this is the interweb.