BBC World Service doesn't play

[Barcaseven]

Everytime I ask for BBC World Service news it redirects me to another station. There is an old thread on this where it was resolved. The solution was never shared with the community. Now it's happened again. Can google go resolve this.

[tajennifer]

Hi Barcaseven,

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry to hear about the situation that you are experiencing with the BBC World Service that is not playing. I understand how frustrating this situation can be. Don't worry; help is here. I need to ask, what is the exact command that you are trying to use to get the station to play?
Please keep me posted.

Best regards,
Jenny

[Barcaseven]

I realise my reply to Jennifer is not recorded here. Here it is: -

Hi Jenny, I say 'Hey Google, play BBC World Service'

Please see the previous thread https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/BBC-World-Service-doesn-t-play/m-p/6532...

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/BBC-World-Service-doesn-t-play/m-p/6532...

All the information you'll need is there. The problem was resolved. It didn't last and has come back.

The instruction to my speaker, is the same as I have given for at least 3 years now, 'Hey google, play BBC World Service.' It always worked until Oct 24 and now.

Like I said--please see the thread linked above.

Please help us. I have 4 google devices. I only mainly use them for digital radio. Without this working, my devices are mostly useless.

I have Sonos devices that can (and do) play BBC World Service with voice command. So, it can be done. It's just Google that's failing.

Do help.

[Barcaseven]

Hi Jenny, I say 'Hey Google, play BBC World Service'

Please see the previous thread https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/BBC-World-Service-doesn-t-play/m-p/6532...

All the information you'll need is there. The problem was resolved. It didn't last and has come back.

The instruction to my speaker, is the same as I have given for at least 3 years now, 'Hey google, play BBC World Service.' It always worked until Oct 24 and now.

Like I said--please see the thread linked above.

Please help us. I have 4 google devices. I only mainly use them for digital radio. Without this working, my devices are mostly useless.

I have Sonos devices that can (and do) play BBC World Service with voice command. So, it can be done. It's just Google that's failing.

Do help.

[Barcaseven]

BBC World News does not play on Google Nest. Stopped working a few days back. This was raised in 2024 and resolved. It's happened again. Any update please. I have 3 nests and 1 hub. None work.

[GabrielaG]

Hi @Barcaseven,

Thanks for reaching out to the Google Nest community. I'm sorry to hear that BBC World News is not playing on Google Nest and stopped working a few days ago, but there's no need to worry; I'm happy to help you right now.

I understand you have one Nest Hub and 3 Nest devices. I'd like to ask you a few questions in order to gather more information about the concern and find the best way to fix it.

• What type of Nest devices are the other 3 Nest devices that you mention?

• Have you done troubleshooting steps? If so, can you please list them?

Any additional details you can provide will be helpful.

Best regards,

Gabriela

[Barcaseven]

Hi Gabriela. I have referred you to a thread last year that gives all the details of the problem. All details are there. Could you study that thread please. 

That said I have 3 google nests and 1 nest hub. All had been restarted. One reset. Nothing works. 

Like I said—see the thread I referred support to. Its all there. Google has recreated the problem. 

[GS1000SZ]

Hi Gabriela -- I am new to the forum so am also replying to you besides posting on the general topic below.  I was having the same BBC-redirect problem as Barcaseven (and many others) with my Google Home smart speaker.

I managed to solve it with the following voice command: "Hey Google - play World Service from BBC Sounds."  Now the speaker goes straight to BBC World Service as before.

I hope this solution works for others.

[Barcaseven]

Users outside of UK, in Singapore at least where I am, I can't access it off BBC Sounds. I will try. But I remember I did before without success.

[Barcaseven]

As a side note. I also have Sonos speakers. Sonos voice commands work. Sonos replies clearly that it is playing BBC World Service off iTunes.

From a previous thread I understand there may have been some changes between Google and iTunes. While that was claimed in Oct 24--it worked shortly after again, until approximately last Thursday 20 Mar 25.

I listen to BBC World Service off Google daily. So I am fairly clear when access went down. Users outside US and UK have different rights for both Google and BBC.

I hope this gets comprehensively resolved. The last time, it just started working with no reply whatsoever to the forum on how it was resolved.

[Barcaseven]

Can I check. I already replied a query sent to me by Jennifer(?). I now have this query. I don't mind the help. But, why are there separate support replies. Perhaps we could consolidate? Really keen to solve this. It's still happening. 'Hey Google, play BBC World Service' and the Nest goes to another radio station, saying 'Streaming KLAW from TuneIn.' It's not BBC World Service.

[Barcaseven]

This was my reply to Jenny:-

Hi Jenny, I say 'Hey Google, play BBC World Service'

Please see the previous thread https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/BBC-World-Service-doesn-t-play/m-p/6532...

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/BBC-World-Service-doesn-t-play/m-p/6532...

All the information you'll need is there. The problem was resolved. It didn't last and has come back.

The instruction to my speaker, is the same as I have given for at least 3 years now, 'Hey google, play BBC World Service.' It always worked until Oct 24 and now.

Like I said--please see the thread linked above.

Please help us. I have 4 google devices. I only mainly use them for digital radio. Without this working, my devices are mostly useless.

I have Sonos devices that can (and do) play BBC World Service with voice command. So, it can be done. It's just Google that's failing.

Do help.

[GS1000SZ]

Hello -- I was having the same problem with my Google Home smart speaker.  The simple command "Play BBC World Service" would suddenly redirect to a single radio station (in my case KALW). 

I managed to solve it with the following voice command:  "Hey Google - play World Service from BBC Sounds." 

For whatever reason this works perfectly, though I have to say that exact sequence.  I'm curious to know if it works for anyone else experiencing this problem.

[tajennifer]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your reply and the information provided. In this case, could you please provide me the following information?

• Firmware of the affected speakers
• Google Home app version
• Phone brand and version

Please keep me posted.

Best regards,
Jenny

[Barcaseven]

Hi Jenny

I really appreciate that you've been sent to us to help solve this--and not a bot (I hope).

At the same time, I'm sorry but I am not confident of the support given. In our previous diagnosis we found the cause was Google's relationship to TuneIn.  It's been almost 2 weeks and BBC World Service still pulls up KALW from Tunein.

Could you rope in further colleagues? Or escalate this please? In 2 weeks with the same information given to you by the other forum that solved this-- our own case has no progress. We are not close to any cause either. Nothing.

Still, to answer your query best I can: -

1. Firmware of affected speakers. I don't know. But, 3 Nests and 1 Nesthub are affected. Given it's all of my speakers. I really don't think it's a firmware issue. Each have been restarted. One reset. Same issue.

2. Home app version is 3.29.103

3. I have a Iphone Max 14. I don't know what you mean by version.

Let's please solve this.

[Idontwanttoregi]

Same issue here. It started right after daylight savings time change. I get a totally different station when I ask Google to "play BBC world service." 

This same issue happened to me last year as well and resolved itself after a couple of weeks.

Please fix

[Barcaseven]

Yes. It happened in Oct 24. I’m one of those that raised it. Got resolved—but no one in the community was told how or why. Now it’s happened again. My request for informed support is ignored. Plainly ignored. I estimate these are outsourced, poorly informed support. No resolution. No reply. Community has found a workaround with ‘hey google play bbc world service from bbc sounds.’ Works sometimes. Apart from that—im never buying a google nest again.

[Buttercup75]

It happens every year forFrance Info, a French news station from the Radio France group. But I don't often listen to BBC World Service so I had never noticed it before. 

And now that you mention it, yeah, always around daylights saving time change.

I've managed though to listen to BBC World Service News Internet. Try and see if it works on your devices.