Why is the Torchwood website blocked?

[ShadowMaat]

Want to add a new level of wacky to the mystery? On a whim I tried checking out the Torchwood site on my mobile: full access. Well, as full as can be expected, anyway. I don't have a vid-capable phone, but I assume the teasers would have been unavailable. The rest of the site was, though. Go figure...

[docballen]

I think I read somewhere that the Torchwood site is being "worked on" --possibly in anticipation of S2. Could that explain all the trouble people are having getting on the site???

(I wish I could quote where I read that. Sigh.)

[ShadowMaat]

If it was being worked on I should think it'd be unavailable to EVERYONE, even those inside the UK. And it still doesn't explain why, as an American, I can't access the site on my computer but I can on my phone. That's just weird.

[Angela V]

I absolutely love the BBC Doctor Who site- it's easily one of, if not the best "official" site for a show out there. The BBC does a GREAT job with it! And I'm sure we foreigners are all very grateful for the access- I was shocked to find that I could watch all of the Adventure videos on there!

*cough* unlike, say.....CBC's Doctor Who site which decent enough, but has now completely disappeared.

So it's too bad we don't get to see the Torchwood one. I find the BBC America one rather underwhelming, and CBC doesn't even have one.

I noticed that too about CBC! I went looking for their Doctor Who site and it's gone. Maybe it'll be active again with series 4?
For kicks i googled the BBC Torchwood site. I could see the cast picture. Then I unblocked the scripts with Firefox. The cast picture disappeared. I blocked the scripts and the picture came back I couldn't access anything no matter what I did though.

[Willow'sCat]

This is so unfair!

Can someone get me the email address for BBC Cardiff? I want to complain. No really I want to complain to them.

[ecchi]

This is so unfair!Can someone get me the email address for BBC Cardiff? I want to complain. No really I want to complain to them.

BBC Wales have nothing to do with it (who I assume you mean, there is no such organisation as BBC Cardiff, but BBC Wales is in Cardiff). If you want to complain you need to complain to BBC Online, and the contact details are all over the website.

However I was NOT joking when I said "you may find that bringing it to their attention will simply get the Dr Who site blocked too". Remember, almost the entire adult population pay about the equivalent of US$300 a year for the service, and they have to show that we get value for this, and that we are not just subsidising the world (BBC America, for example, HAS to bring in a profit). The last thing they want is the licence payers asking "why are we paying for a free website for non-licence payer?" We are under the impression that you can not access ANY of the site, make a fuss and they may pull the lot!

[smurf]

I don't know who has been informing you that it is all unavailable outside the UK, or not designed to be available outside the UK, because this is absolutely not true.
I'm going to hazard a guess that they have sold the rights of Torchwood to someone who has requested some form of all media deal.

As to why Shadowmaat can access it via her phone. Possibly the connection via the phone doesn't call up an IP address, or a recognisable country specific one.


ETA: Wandering around the site I found this is quite cool - BBC Worldwide on Youtube.
Don't get excited by the BBC (only) Youtube site and associated Torchwood S2 links, it's blocked as well.

[Willow'sCat]

I don't know who has been informing you that it is all unavailable outside to UK, or not designed to be available outside the the UK, because this is absolutely not true.
I'm going to hazard a guess that they have sold the rights of Torchwood to someone who has requested some form of all media deal.

Look all I know is last year before Australia's Channel 10 even had the rights to Torchwood, I mean way before you could not access many of the site's features from an ISP in Australia. That has not changed.

I am more then willing to blame Channel 10 for this, happy to but I have no proof of what you are saying, if you can come up with some let me know.

[smurf]

Look all I know is last year before Australia's Channel 10 even had the rights to Torchwood, I mean way before you could not access many of the site's features from an ISP in Australia. That has not changed.

I am more then willing to blame Channel 10 for this, happy to but I have no proof of what you are saying, if you can come up with some let me know.

Sure. I'm just saying that a) it is not all unavailable, and not designed to be all unavailable, and b) content locked features are all likely due to some form of rights issues. Given that you can access the Doctor Who site (except I assume the video), and that the Torchwood site contains mainly an episode guide, character bios, plus a couple of preview and behind the scenes vids, either someone pressed the wrong button, or they've been asked to close it off.
Whether or not it was Australian TV doesn't matter. Seeing as it's easier to program if not from UK IP = not available, than it is to program if from X IP = unavailable.

Remember the site is also there to promote the show, so closing it off entirely would not generally be in the BBC's best interests.

ETA: Another thought: The actual content of the show might be an issue in itself. Some countries aren't very open and the BBC may decide it might be safer not to make it freely available as a form of self-protection.
Speculation obviously.

[Nuallain]

AIUI, the reason some things (like DW) are at least partially unblocked but other things (like Torchwood) aren't is down to the fact that the BBC, themselves, don't particularly want to be blocking anything. It's the fact that jobsworth MPs keep making speeches in Parliament about what a disgrace it is ol Johnny Foreigner can get their hands on BBC content and the right wing of the media aren't far behind.

There was even one div in one paper who gave a big ranting editorial about the very fact that BBC shows are sold to the likes of Sci-Fi at all.

This means that the BBC are under a certain amount of pressure to be 'seen to be doing something' about it. Which is why, theoretically, nothing should be accessible from abroad but, in practice, they do a fairly uneven, half hearted job of blocking stuff.




Oh, and it turns out the 'recruitment' thing is an online game where new Torchwood members (ie you) are given one mission a week for thirteen weeks and which includes interaction with specially filmed scenes of the Torchwood team (the scenes decided, obviously, by your own game choices).

[ShadowMaat]

Bother. Can't fake my way around that. Ah well. 'Twas a nice thought while it lasted. *sigh*

[Willow'sCat]

I would say the nonuk part of the url is why we can't get in. Dam it normally I am happy to be nonuk but not now!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/content/pages/nonuk.shtml

Honestly why don't they just have a big sign saying foreigners not welcome go home! You cannot access anything on the site!

[ecchi]

Honestly why don't they just have a big sign saying foreigners not welcome go home! You cannot access anything on the site!

A) As I said before, we each pay about the equivalent of $300 per year to run the BBC (including this site). You think it is fair that you should be able freeload bandwidth, and we have to pay for it?
B) I guess that makes up for the American sites we cannot access because we are not US citizens.
C) But it does not make up for the practically racist way eBay and iTunes run their sites (actually, you can probably drop the word "practically" from that sentence).

[ShadowMaat]

Oh yes? Pray, tell us exactly which American sites block foreigners ENTIRELY from accessing ANYTHING, right down to the background image. And which of those sites is so inconsistent that they only full-block PART of their site while allowing "normal" access (vids excluded) to international webbies?

You can repeat it all you want, ecchi, but the point still remains: Why is Torchwood the ONLY BBC site that is completely and utterly blocked to nonuks? What's so special about Torchwood that it rates such a high level of blockage? And for all the elitist "Well, we PAY for the privilege" yawp you keep throwing at us, I remain unconvinced. If it were true, I should think that EVERY subsite of the BBC would be banned to nonuks, not just one. And as a way of "testing" the supposed new technology of region-blocking, I don't buy TW as the viable candidate for guinea pig.

Do I have a more likely alternative? No, other than it maybe being a glitch. But I'd believe that it's because Torchwood is a top secret organization before I'd believe that it's a "paid privilege" thing.

[ecchi]

Oh yes?..........before I'd believe that it's a "paid privilege" thing.

Sorry, you are saying that you don't believe we have to pay for the BBC???? Who do you think pays for it? The nice TV fairies???? Tell you what, next holiday you take abroad, take it to England, listen to all the moaning and whining that goes on about having to pay for the licence. Read a few court cases where people are taken to court and prosecuted for not paying it, etc..

And as to not believing that some US sites are totally blocked to non US citizens, go hire one of these companies who give you foreign IPs, them see how many are (usually they are sites that survive selling advertising to companies that trade in the US, but occasionally you come across things like movie sites that were set up to push a film that has not been released in the UK, that is comparable to the BBC site). Better still, get a European IP and pay the extra levy iTunes charge people simply because they are European. Or look at the way Americans can sell on all parts of all other countries eBay sites, but non Americans are banned from even looking at some parts of the eBay American site! You don't even need a non-American IP for that, just go read their rules on their various sites!!!!

In short, stop being a stereotypical American. I have enough problems defending Americans from my many American hating friends without people like you posting "I know nothing about life abroad, but I am American, so I'll make up what I like about foreigners and insist it is true" type posts.