The Virtual Private Network (VPN) users from accessing its iPlayer video streaming service, in a measure intended to clamp down on international users getting free access.
A BBC spokesperson told The Register that "we regularly make updates to our technology to help prevent access to BBC iPlayer from outside the UK, which breaks our terms of use. BBC iPlayer is freely available to users across the UK without a VPN, and we also seek to ensure users of private VPNs such as those used by schools and companies in the UK have access."
The VPN clamp-down comes little more than a month after director general Tony Hall told the Royal Television Society Convention that the BBC would be "launching a new OTT [over-the-top] video service in America offering BBC fans programmes they wouldn’t otherwise get, showcasing British actors, our programme-makers and celebrating our culture." However, a date and name for the forthcoming service have yet to be announced.
Unfortunately for viewers in Europe, Australia and Canada, the BBC's little-known, iOS-only Global iPlayer service shut down earlier this year, and there's no immediate sign of a replacement on the horizon. At the time, the BBC reported that the app never launched in the USA due to US pay-TV providers threatening to drop the BBC Worldwide channel.
Cutting off unpaid overseas access is hardly a surprising move on the part of the national broadcaster. While BBC radio is a major national export and PR tooldesigned to "[bring] the UK to the world", the BBC's TV services are intended only to be watched by the licence payers who fund them. In July, the Global Web Index claimed that over 60 million people were watching iPlayer for free outside the UK -- a figure the BBC said was not plausible.
However, there's some debate even within the BBC about that high global viewing figure. A BBC spokesperson told TorrentFreak, which originally reported the latest VPN clampdown, that "these figures simply aren't plausible. All our evidence shows the vast majority of BBC iPlayer usage is in the UK. BBC iPlayer and the content on it is paid for by UK licence fee payers in the UK and we take appropriate steps to protect access to this content".
Updated 20/10/15, 13:40: This story originally claimed the BBC had said 60 million people were watching iPlayer for free outside the UK. This figure came from Global Web Index, not the BBC.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK