Licensing

kippy

Right,
This isn't an actual problem, just something I am wondering about.......and if this isnt the forum for it please move.

I've started listening a lot to X-FM via Satellite. Its a Manchester based Radio station, the music on which I particularly like.
Anyway, no issues listening via sat obviously.
I happen to try listening to them via their website however I was told that there were licensing issues preventing me from listening from Ireland, they then asked me to verify my postcode in case they got it wrong.
Anyway, how can I pick this up via sat and it appears not to suffer from licensing issues whereas I cannot pick up the station via their website? (It has nothing to do with subscriptions etc)
Kippy

Reloc8

You can pick it up via sat I presume just because your receiver unit is capable of doing so - a matter of technology - from wherever it is being broadcast from (outside the jurisdiction).

You arn't being let listen on the website because of the legal licensing issue, which they are trying not to infringe, I would imagine - they can't control whether you have a radio received capable of receiving their broadcasts, but they can stop an Irish IP from accessing radio content online.

That's my best guess at least.

kippy

Reloc8 wrote: »

You can pick it up via sat I presume just because your receiver unit is capable of doing so - a matter of technology - from wherever it is being broadcast from (outside the jurisdiction).

You arn't being let listen on the website because of the legal licensing issue, which they are trying not to infringe, I would imagine - they can't control whether you have a radio received capable of receiving their broadcasts, but they can stop an Irish IP from accessing radio content online.

That's my best guess at least.

I thought that as well but then realised that sky do broadcast channels based on where you live, so they could in theory limit the channels based on location. That said the station could be FTA., which it probably is.
Thanks for the comment.

Tom Young

This is a Net Neutrality and broadcast license issue. The blockage over the web can be legally gotten around, but it is designed to fit in with the public licensing regime in the jurisdiction you mention.