[Jake]

I turned on my ATV 2nd gen today and the first two radio stations I tuned to said that content was not available outside of the US. Grrrrrr. Looks like we can expect more geo-restricted web-radio. One station specifically mentioned legal action being taken against them to comply.

It appears all CBS, AOL and Yahoo stations are being restricted.

 

[ScaryBob]

That has been happening for some time but I can see it getting worse. The music industry is very restrictive about how and where music can be streamed. Restrictions and high royalties helped kill one music oriented Detroit PBS radio station that I listened to. It's also killed some music services that were available to Canadians. IIRC, CBS radio has been restricted for some time. Some sites, like Yahoo, have a Canadian service that should be available but they are often poor copies of US services.

 

[willise]

This is getting to be a little ridiculous. For years, I have listened to Shoutcast from my computer first, then an Itouch app, and now my IPhone. Itunes also has a radio section where I can now stream shoutcast on my Mac.

I also have a VPN that allows me to stream Pandora.

I don't see the point in geoblocking internet radio - there are no ads, per se.

$50 a year to keep Pandora and Hulu seems well worth it to me.

 

[hugh]

I suspect this is to keep costs down both on cost of streaming and royalties.

 

[classicsat]

If it is a real radio station, it is becasue of royalties paid to voice talent, especially on commercials. IIRC union rules also affect it.

 

[Jake]

This Geist article talks about both audio and video.

http://www.thestar.com/news/sciencetech/technology/lawbytes/article/830721--geist-geo-blocking-websites-is-a-business-rather-than-legal-issue

I have also encountered youtube videos that are geo-blocked (ABC). Quite annoying. Oh and the Apple TV will not play youtube clips from VEVO. Why is that? More licensing nonsense? It works perfectly fine on my laptop. And it is not a flash vs HTML5 issue either.

 

[ScaryBob]

Only in Canada, eh. Well not really...

This isn't about royalties paid to talent, it's about protecting revenue from licensing and copyright fees paid to global and regional copyright holders. (Region codes on DVDs are similar in nature.) For example, when a US station streams a song, the royalty is paid to the US copyright holder. A different company or company subsidiary in Canada does not get any money or may not want the song streamed at all (which is often the case.) To protect its Canadian revenue streams, legal action is threatened by the Canadian company and the stream gets restricted. Another issue is the amount of payment. Hypothetically, a US station may pay 2c per customer per play, a Canadian station 3c, a Mexican station 1c and a Chinese station 0.5c. Does a global copyright holder want people in Canada listening to stations with cheaper royalty rates? Obviously not, so they restrict availability. It's all about money folks. The entertainment industry wants more of yours and is restricting internet radio to get it.

 

[arsenalfun]

I have also encountered youtube videos that are geo-blocked (ABC). Quite annoying. Oh and the Apple TV will not play youtube clips from VEVO. Why is that? More licensing nonsense? It works perfectly fine on my laptop. And it is not a flash vs HTML5 issue either.

Yeah youtube started to suck.. :/ you can unblock it via proxy sites but most of them don't support flv.. i found some at http://proxy-zone.net that works

good luck

 

[Jake]

another one bites the dust

I listened to this all the time via my ATV2. No longer.

As of February 17th, 2011, TheHits.us Worldwide Radio Network will shut down and go off-air until further notice. Astronomical music royalties and licensing fees have crippled our ability to bring you commercial free radio. As much as we dislike these fees, they are necessary to broadcast music legally to computers and phones around the globe. We hope to re-launch soon - bigger & better than ever before.

 

[Jake]

Cripes I tuned into 3 more stations tonight and guess what? Gone.