Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HomePod No BBC Radio natively through HomePod - ridiculous.

There are a few interesting recent bits and bobs out there on Twitter if you search for the latest tweets under "TuneIn BBC"

For example these two:

1678743552195.png


1678743797859.png


I had a little browse and came up with a theory. A few people are saying their TuneIn streams have intermittent messages telling them that their streams will stop working later in the year, which as far as I know we aren't getting through Apple. And also at the same time there are tweets where people are saying that the BBC streams are looking to be migrated / updated mid-2023. So I'm wondering if these are the new streams that we're getting on Apple via TuneIn and they were always intending to bring them back in the UK but only once they were ready / upgraded. It may however be TuneIn itself that is adding those messages for people listening to the BBC Radio streams via the TuneIn app (rather than the BBC adding them on the streams) so I'm just speculating. Could still be the migrated streams we have though.

I think I once read (maybe at the start of this thread) that the reason the streams were pulled was because of the lack of data that the BBC were getting given from the 3rd party suppliers - so for example they didn't get data from TuneIn on who was listening, when people were tuning out etc. Maybe the new streaming protocol supports those things. Just a few thoughts really - time will tell.

On the data front, I've often thought how powerful the data must be from digital radio streams - if I was controlling the stations or playlists I'd be very keen to see the comparative data on who was pressing the skip 30 seconds button or tune-ing out for every track!
 
thanks for the heads up about this! i haven't had any luck asking my (first generation) homepod for any of the bbc radio stations even when adding "from tune in" or "from apple music", but am using the following workaround:

- search for the bbc radio station within the apple music iphone app, and playing it there
- then using control centre (i.e. swiping down from the top right of the screen) to access the now playing widget, before tapping 'control other speakers & tvs'
- tapping the required homepod
- as long as that homepod isn't currently playing something else, the station in question should now appear as a selectable option
 
Uk users have needed this for so long. There’s now no need to ever turn my HomePods off at all…(except when they’re too hot)
 
justin.d said:
i haven't had any luck asking my (first generation) homepod for any of the bbc radio stations even when adding "from tune in" or "from apple music"
Click to expand...
You have to be precise in the words you use. “Play BBC Radio 2 in Apple Music” is the exact phrase you need to use (for R2). This works on my gen 1 HomePods running the latest software.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Topfry
justin.d said:
thanks for the heads up about this! i haven't had any luck asking my (first generation) homepod for any of the bbc radio stations even when adding "from tune in" or "from apple music", but am using the following workaround:

- search for the bbc radio station within the apple music iphone app, and playing it there
- then using control centre (i.e. swiping down from the top right of the screen) to access the now playing widget, before tapping 'control other speakers & tvs'
- tapping the required homepod
- as long as that homepod isn't currently playing something else, the station in question should now appear as a selectable option
Click to expand...
Same problem getting it to work for me too. No joy at all even if I specified Apple Music or TuneIn. But your workaround of searching for a bbc radio station in Apple Music did work 👍
 
  • Like
Reactions: justin.d
They’ve gone! FFS I’m really sick of this. It’s purely on the BBC and they don’t want to make their stations available.
 
  • Like
Reactions: macbookpromusic
It’s changed over the years. On the HomePods, I used to be able to say “play BBC radio 2”. That stopped working about a year back until I tried “play radio station BBC radio 2”

Siri on the iPhone is more tolerant.
 
Arran said:
It’s changed over the years. On the HomePods, I used to be able to say “play BBC radio 2”. That stopped working about a year back until I tried “play radio station BBC radio 2”
Click to expand...
It's different outside the UK.
 
idrewuk said:
They’ve gone! FFS I’m really sick of this. It’s purely on the BBC and they don’t want to make their stations available.
Click to expand...


why do they work fine on my google home minis here in Portugal? Tbh im not actually sure if it would work on my homepod as tbh i use it for as little as possible as siri is so stupid. Not saying google is intelligent but there's very little i use my homepod for as most things google does it less badly.
 
I've got a couple of minis in kitchen connected to an apple TV, currently use the Broadcasts app to play BBC Scotland and 6. BBC play a message every so often to say the stream getting turned off soon. Can't seem to get sir to play any BBC station. Very annoying when you see the adverts on Telly saying "just ask your smart speaker to play BBC..."
 
  • Like
Reactions: madeirabhoy
afd said:
Very annoying when you see the adverts on Telly saying "just ask your smart speaker to play BBC..."
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's one of the most annoying things tbh. I noticed some of the jingles now say 'or just say xyz on most smart speakers' :rolleyes:

Agree, was great while it lasted!! Stupid though, so stupid. This is a curveball point, but the more I stream from my phone the more my battery gets destroyed and the more lithium-ion I therefore mine from the world 🌎 in battery / phone replacements. Minor I know, but adds to the stupidity-pile :p. Sort it out BBC please.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back