BBC iplayer will need licence fee from September

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Awrrr
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#1641964 28-Sep-2016 17:00

It will be interesting to see how this is implemented. I have never applied for an ID because I don't use the iPlayer app. It is easier to just play and download (unrestricted) on the PC. If the site remains accessible but the ID is only required to play something, it may remain possible to bypass the ID and download via the URLs as is presently the case.

I like the idea of the hotel postcode. That is going to be pretty hard to filter out though the license might complicate things. I think a market for spoof IDs will pop up pretty quick, though. Personally, I would still rather give my money to the BBC if they would let me.

I can't see how IP addresses would become part of the equation. License holders, especially young ones, move around and may have different IPs. A proxy or VPN will be sufficient to make it appear you are in the country. More than that shouldn't be necessary.

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davidcole

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#1641977 28-Sep-2016 17:16

kharris:
I'm sure the Hotel at the postcode I used has TV's.

I use a maccas in Essex. Since I needed one for itv

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evilengineer

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#1641982 28-Sep-2016 17:27

robjg63:

Unlike many parts of the world (here for example) the UK postcodes are unique to a property as well - so they would probably have a pretty good way of matching against licences I guess.

cynnicallemon:

UK postcodes are area codes.

You are both right, kind of.

UK postcodes consist of two blocks of letters/numbers separated by a space.

First half is the town (or area for larger cities). Second half is a street level identifier.

On a typical UK residential street you'll only have about 30 or so houses that share the exact same postcode.

The UK postcode system is plenty accurate enough to easily identify non residential areas.

Cross referencing any info supplied to register for a BBC ID with both the TV Licence database and the UK postcode database is going to quickly flag possible anomalies for further consideration.

And that's without adding in further checks on the info that can easily be gathered with an unique ID such as a tendency to watch preschool programming in the middle of the night or watch prime time programming first thing in the morning. Both dead giveaways for out of timezone viewing!

They could make things pretty tricky if they really put their minds to it.

PhantomNVD

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#1642979 29-Sep-2016 22:11

A quick google map click gives a useable address and postcard almost instantly... what are the chances [insert random London address] WONT have a licence already?

Rikkitic

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#1644291 2-Oct-2016 17:44

I finally decided to get an ID in anticipation of potential changes after the New Year. I picked a pleasant neighbourhood in North Acton. No problem with that and I very much doubt the beeb will come up with something that cannot be circumvented anyway, but it does make me think about looking further afield. So does anyone have recommendations for BBC alternatives? I have looked at Canada and SA but didn't find much. PBS has occasional gems, but nothing close to BBC, which is a source for them anyway. ABC iview used to some things, but seems to have narrowed in the wake of government funding cuts. Which pretty much leaves me with SBS, which again cannot even come close to the BBC. So does anyone have any other ideas?

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mattwnz

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#1644295 2-Oct-2016 18:09

Does the license fee also fund other channels such as channels 4? Or is it solely for the BBC?

Rikkitic

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#1644301 2-Oct-2016 18:26

I think it is only for the BBC. The other channels are commercial, so have their own sources of income. The BBC isn't allowed to run ads in Britain.

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Linuxluver

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#1644304 2-Oct-2016 18:30

dazhann:

Hell I'd almost given up torrenting, oh well

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/01/bbc-iplayer-tv-licence-iplayer-loophole?CMP=twt_gu

I've been wondering if there won't be a cottage industry in BBC license 'on behalf of'.

The BBC could make a lot of money out of selling licenses globally all by themselves.....though contracts with distributors might get in the way.

It's worth noting that the BBC originally planned to make their entire back catalog available globally over the Internet. This was stopped by then PM Tony Blair after Rupert Murdoch, Conrad Black and other media moguls complained this would harm their businesses.

The BBC could have been Netflix before there was Netflix. Thanks for screwing it up, Rupert and Tony.

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Linuxluver

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#1644305 2-Oct-2016 18:31

old3eyes:

Sounds like TV Taxes are alive and well in the UK..

It's why they continue to have quality content second to none.

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Linuxluver

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#1644307 2-Oct-2016 18:36

shk292:

cynnicallemon:

I'm pretty sure a licence covers all devices at a location.

Actually, I don't think that is correct. When I lived in shared (barracks) accom in the UK a few years ago, we were told that if we had a TV, we needed a licence for it. So multiple licences at one location are certainly possible

I'm happy to buy a licence if that is what is required - it's a good value service

I'm thinking you will only be able to pay for a license with a UK bank account or credit / debit card.

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mattwnz

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#1644372 2-Oct-2016 20:27

Rikkitic:
I think it is only for the BBC. The other channels are commercial, so have their own sources of income. The BBC isn't allowed to run ads in Britain.

I wish nz followed this model. Our tax payer owned channels are filled with rubbish reality to crap and ads, and as a result I hardly watch any. I think it would be a better use of taxpayer nz air money to be spent in a national ad free channel like BBC. Radio NZ running it wouldn't be a bad idea, especially as radii nz now have a tv station of their own.

mattwnz

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#1644376 2-Oct-2016 20:29

Linuxluver: if that is what is required - it's a good value service

I'm thinking you will only be able to pay for a license with a UK bank account or credit / debit card.

There are probably quite a few nzers so who have this, especially those who have returned back to nz

shk292

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#1644379 2-Oct-2016 20:32

Linuxluver:

I'm thinking you will only be able to pay for a license with a UK bank account or credit / debit card.

Not a problem, I have several of those. Never close an account if you don't have to

PhantomNVD

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#1644386 2-Oct-2016 20:48

Yup, been here 10 years without once leaving the country (1st and ow 2nd house and young family with at home mother meant less 'spare' cash) and I'm glad I kept my NatWest accounts open as I've been able to transfer money over whenever the pound dived *cough Brexit cough* in advance of our UK Christmas reunion this year.

Always keep your options open I say...

Rikkitic

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#1691049 16-Dec-2016 12:50

The BBC is my main source of quality viewing. Because my RBI is not always reliable, I download the videos I want to watch for later viewing. I don't use the iPlayer downloader for this because of the restrictions. Instead I initially used IDM, which was brilliant, but then BBC changed something and it stopped working. Then I discovered that Any Video Converter worked almost as well, and I have been using that. Now it has also stopped working for most videos. So I switched to get_iplayer. It does still work, but is extremely slow. I posted about this on the get_iplayer site and got a snarky reply about being outside of Britain, which is a bit rich coming from someone running a site dedicated to bypassing BBC's download restrictions.

Anyway, since I couldn't get any help there, I had to figure out my own solution so here it is for anyone else who is interested. As far as I can tell, get_iplayer will only download one file at a time, at least from the command line. There is a graphic interface for the programme, but I haven't really explored that yet. You can instruct it to do multiple downloads, but it still does them one at a time, using only a small portion of available bandwidth and taking forever. My solution to this is simple: just run multiple instances of the programme. That seems to work well. I just open however many command line windows I need for the videos I want to download, then run a separate instance of get_iplayer in each window. This doesn't make the individual downloads any faster, but it does let me download multiple files simultaneously by using more of the available bandwidth, which makes it much faster per video.

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