BBC website starting to go paywall

[CoolHands]

First time this has happened - previously it would occasionally ask you to sign in but you could click off the pop up (or click “Maybe later”) and still read the story. But below, these 2 stories (about snooker) only give you the option of signing in or Don t sign in, find something else which boots you off the page.

As far as I ve ever experienced, this is a first.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/c87w9...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/c5yw1...

Edit - I checked in private mode, it appears it’s not universal it’s presumably linked to cookies on one’s own browser - clearly I like snooker so they’ve cut me off! However, I believe this is still a first so anyone else experienced this yet?

Edited by CoolHands on Monday 27th April 00:00

[Hill92]

CoolHands said:

First time this has happened - previously it would occasionally ask you to sign in but you could click off the pop up (or click Maybe later ) and still read the story. But below, these 2 stories (about snooker) only give you the option of signing in or Don t sign in, find something else which boots you off the page.

As far as I ve ever experienced, this is a first.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/c87w9...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/c5yw1...

Edit - I checked in private mode, it appears it s not universal it s presumably linked to cookies on one s own browser - clearly I like snooker so they ve cut me off! However, I believe this is still a first so anyone else experienced this yet?

Edited by CoolHands on Monday 27th April 00:00

A paywall was introduced on bbc.com for US users last year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2vgkn7w10o

Maybe the site thought you were in the US for some reason.

[LittleBobbyTables]

Does someone still have their VPN on after other activities…

[NerveAgent]

LittleBobbyTables said:

Does someone still have their VPN on after other activities

[redrabbit]

OP, do you have the matter in hand now?

[CoolHands]

lol

[Jimbo.]

As per Mock the Week a few years back:

“Private Browsing, reporting for duty!”

[Digger]

I had to sign-in in order to read the main Golf headline article, but seems no sign-in required to read about Trump destroying the Universe as we know it . . .

I’d prefer the above to be the other way around at the very least

[Panamax]

BBC is increasingly splitting itself in two with "free" statutory services for UK licence payers and then charging for anything else. For instance, BBC news (previously News 24 and/or World News) is now free in the UK and commercial elsewhere. There are two separate operations, public BBC and then the group of commercial companies BBC Studios, BBC.co, BBC news etc..

Presumably they can see the writing on the wall for their licence fee income.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

redrabbit said:

OP, do you have the matter in hand now?

[Lester H]

TGCOTF-dewey said:

redrabbit said:

OP, do you have the matter in hand now?

Paywall = don’t read it, plenty of other news sources.

[Derek Smith]

CoolHands said:

First time this has happened - previously it would occasionally ask you to sign in but you could click off the pop up (or click Maybe later ) and still read the story. But below, these 2 stories (about snooker) only give you the option of signing in or Don t sign in, find something else which boots you off the page.

As far as I ve ever experienced, this is a first.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/c87w9...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/articles/c5yw1...

Edit - I checked in private mode, it appears it s not universal it s presumably linked to cookies on one s own browser - clearly I like snooker so they ve cut me off! However, I believe this is still a first so anyone else experienced this yet?

Edited by CoolHands on Monday 27th April 00:00

In one way I think it is great as I pay my fee. If others who don't watch live to air or make out they don't want to, tough. But then BBC news is constantly rated highly in the international reports on trustworthiness and, given how much biased stuff is out there, I think it should be available to everyone.

[entropy]

LittleBobbyTables said:

Does someone still have their VPN on after other activities

The problem is the likes of Google, YT, etc. want your browsing data to improve their algorithms and particularly with the likes of YT they want to keep you hooked.

[Cotty]

Derek Smith said:

In one way I think it is great as I pay my fee. If others who don't watch live to air or make out they don't want to, tough. But then BBC news is constantly rated highly in the international reports on trustworthiness and, given how much biased stuff is out there, I think it should be available to everyone.

Cough https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17845kz2yno

[CoolHands]

Now they’re making some stories fade out, unless you sign in. They’re going down the toilet as no one is paying their rippoff tax, and this is their solution.

Getting like the stty local news sites!

[trashbat]

Panamax said:

BBC is increasingly splitting itself in two with "free" statutory services for UK licence payers and then charging for anything else. For instance, BBC news (previously News 24 and/or World News) is now free in the UK and commercial elsewhere. There are two separate operations, public BBC and then the group of commercial companies BBC Studios, BBC.co, BBC news etc..

Presumably they can see the writing on the wall for their licence fee income.

You're sort of half right.

It's been split in two for many years, by necessity.

UK licence fee income is not allowed to support BBC operations outside the UK. So Studios or Worldwide before it or whatever other prior incarnation is necessarily a separate business. It needs to fund itself and produce some income for UK as well. Proportionally, increasingly so, given UK funding restrictions.

What's new is some of the divergent behaviours of the international business - its own app, charging for content, etc etc.

[Cotty]

CoolHands said:

Now they re making some stories fade out, unless you sign in. They re going down the toilet as no one is paying their rippoff tax, and this is their solution.

Getting like the

That is actually good news. If they do it with their broadcasts then people can watch non BBC live TV without having to pay them.

[redrabbit]

CoolHands said:

Now they re making some stories fade out, unless you sign in. They re going down the toilet as no one is paying their rippoff tax, and this is their solution.

Getting like the stty local news sites!

It's not doing that on my phone here in the UK on that same story.

Are you outside the UK? Or do you still have your VPN set to wk mode?

[CoolHands]

No it depends on your own cookies I think, depending on what pages you have been reading. I opened the same link in private browser and can read the story.

So in other words they are starting to limit what you can access, but it’s gonna be different for every visitor.

It doesn’t matter, but it’s a change they’ve recently introduced.

[redrabbit]

I see. Oh well

Edited by redrabbit on Saturday 2nd May 22:22