Playing BBC Radio on Home Hub

[Block]

I have always been able to play BBC radio stations on my Home Hub by asking 'play radio 4', but today it just responds 'i can't do that on here'. What has changed?

[jlbd]

i know this is the suggested temp fix but it doesn't help with the specific reasons I mostly want to use my Goggle Nest Minis which is for waking up to radio as my alarm. I don't want my phone in the room then I want the smartspeaker I had back that is, currently, not v smart.

[Keighley]

So not the BBC's fault at all, then...😁

[JaneML]

That is useless. I don’t keep a phone when in using the speaker. Why did it just start happening on Monday?  My husband cannot see to cast from a phone and talking to turn on the radio is a godsend.  How do you cast from a phone anyway???

[iRzapper]

Same here, as of 04/11/23 iHeart Radio and all their wonderful radio channels that I have listened to for the last several years on my Google Home system with Nest speakers no longer works.  For that matter the same with Sirius XM channels, and some Spotify Channels too.

Now the response that Google Assistant returns when you ask to stream your music, and/or radio channels is the same ridiculous.....  "I looked for (insert your music or channel name) and it either isn't available or can't be played right now". 

Does anybody at Google know if this problem will get elevated to the point of someone or some team actually fixing this issue, or will the overall quality and experience of using the "Google Home System with Nest" just continue to degrade get worse and worse?   (Seems to be the trend from Google starting with the volume control issue for Nest Speakers that Google never provided a work-around for that originated back in Dec of 2021 and continues to this day)

[BudsSpud]

I'm experiencing similar with XM Radio.  I ask my Google Nest puck to play Sirius XM Studio 54 and it replies "I looked for Sirius XM Studio 54 and it is either not available or cannot be played right now".  This just started happening the evening of 4/11 (last night).

[BudsSpud]

This thread needs to be renamed "Linked radio cannot be found by Nest speakers"

[iRzapper]

Hey BudsSpud,

Right now there are literally around 12 separate threads here on Google Nest Community that are all discussing the exact same thing as we are, under all sorts of names and titles unfortunately.  I've seen where when this occurs for a lengthily amount of time, "usually days, weeks, or even months", some Google Pro Employee and/or official moderators will jump in and try to combine all threads under one thread, then lock it down, because Google apparently get pissed off and doesn't like to be accountable when people call them out for their screw ups that they don't fix quickly for the people who pay the bills and have paid for the products too.  

I don't think that will be the case with this one, my functionality is now starting to come back to some degree and the google assistant has now begun to tune me in to my requests for music and/or radio as it's supposed to do.

If you haven't already, see this link, Google sucks right now for all things "radio" "SiriusXM, and some "Spotify" too.

https://support.google.com/assistant/thread/210746628?hl=en

[Shredder]

Google nest is now in the bin

[iRzapper]

Hey Shredder,

Update on my end in the NorthWest, the problem started on April 11th, here it is now early in the morning of April 13th, and all my Google Assistant requests/commands have been restored to where I can easily connect to Sirius XM, Spotify, and iHeart Radio once again with no problems and without having to hear that ridiculous response of: "I looked for (insert your music or channel name) and it either isn't available or can't be played right now". 

All's back to somewhat normal.

Maybe a short time before you are up and running again if not already.

Google Assistant, a clear diagnosis of ADHD (as one previous member put it)

[nicklockett_gm]

Gradually losing all BBC radio. I have four speakers and lost BBC radio on speaker 1 about 2 weeks ago, now lost 2nd speaker....have tried router and device reboots.

[iRzapper]

Hey nicklockett_gm,

Update on my end in Seattle, the problem started for me late on April 11th, and here it is now early in the morning of April 13th so just a little over 24 hours and all my Google Assistant requests/commands have been restored to where I can easily connect to Sirius XM, Spotify, and iHeart Radio once again with no problems and without having to hear that ridiculous response of: "I looked for (insert your music or channel name) and it either isn't available or can't be played right now". 

All's back to somewhat normal.

Hopefully it is just a matter of a short time before you are up and running again with BBC connections and radio, if not already.

Google sure sucks sometimes.

[Ianisfab]

Still not working 🙄☹️

(get rid of your radio they said , this is the future they said😉)

[Sid58]

Our Google Home device plays BBC radio when my wife asks but when I ask I get ‘I can’t do that from here’!

[kickmaleerie]

I've been doing some digging on this issue for several days now and I think that the following applies to the loss of BBC Radio Stations on Google/Nest smart speakers and may begin to happen with other stations too.

1. The BBC Radio streams on Google Home?Nest devices accessed by "OK/Hey Google Play Radio 6 Music" etc. were provided as MP3 streams by TuneIn using the Shoutcast protocol and worked well for years.

2. BBC Sounds has deprecated the TuneIn Shoutcast streams as announced in 2022

3. Google Home devices support HLS *and* TuneIn provides HLS streams - for example they are used by the BBC Sounds app.

4. Really there is no logical need to change the voice command so that it mentions BBC Sounds - just point to the HLS streams!

If you follow the BBC's suggested workaround and use the BBC Sounds app to Cast to your Google speaker(s) then once the stream is playing you can close rhe Sounds app *and* turn your phone off and the stream continues to play until you ask Google to stop playing. So this means:

1. The BBC is wanting to force listeners to to use the Sounds App to gather the data on the person using it: who, where, when, what and device ID.

2. Google devices support HLS streams just fine - this is what they connect to via the cast directive .

3. Given 2. there is no reason for not supporting HLS steams directly on the Google device i.e. "OK/Hey Google Play Radio 6 Music from the BBC" other than that the BBC wants to capture user data as per 1. above.

I think that in this instance the BBC is acting in breach of its charter obligations to listeners and I am now going to ask both my MSP and MP here in the UK to investigate this issue and also communicate the issue to Ofcom our communications regulator.

This is not a problem of Google's making but a consequence of the BBC's policy of forcing the use of their Sounds app on users in order to obtain personal data. If I were gGoogle I would be pretty annoyed at the reputational damage that the BBC is causing them.

I would expect to see other stations have the same issues as Shoutcast/MP3 streaming is close down in favour of HLS/AAC via mobile apps.

Time to go back to the radio which means DAB in the UK and most of Europe as FM is being shutdown 😞 And this is progress!

[Keighley]

Except that all of this BBC-bashing doesn't explain why this is a worldwide radio problem, applicable to numerous stations:

https://support.google.com/assistant/thread/210746628/assistant-radio-disruption?hl=en
Nor does it explain why some people can get the BBC streams eg by a partner requesting them, or using a different voice.

It very much IS a Google problem, from what I can see.

[Misterjay02]

Good post! Time to get another echo, far superior in my opinion 

[kickmaleerie]

Just got the following email from the BBC - still don't think the fault is entirely with Google as it was the BBC that dropped support for Shoutcast/MP3 streams, but maybe they had informed Google of this but then Google failed to do a change to use the new BBC Sounds HLS streams when the speaker is asked to do so

-------

Hello John,

Thanks for contacting us again at BBC Sounds support.

I have good news!

The cause of the issue has been identified by Google. It is a global issue that is affecting multiple radio partners and is not limited to BBC Radio streams. Google are rolling out a fix to the affected devices and they have said that they will continue to monitor the roll out of the fix to ensure everything is restored. They have begun the rollout, but I don’t have a timeframe from them as to when it will be finished.

I hope this fix is completed soon for you and thanks so much for your patience with this.

All the best,
Rebekah Erskine

BBC iPlayer & BBC Sounds Support Team 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/help 

[TyneBridges]

A post at https://support.google.com/assistant/thread/210746628?hl=en by Rikki Benton says "The issue has been mitigated and all radio stations are back online."

This is simply not true, as I'm sure many people posting here can confirm. I've just tried rebooting my nearest device and, afterwards, still got the same "I don't know" response.

[katyotter]

Absolute nonsense - my devices are still just the same, completely useless for their purpose, definitely not fixed.

[olivia41400]

Hi, there has definitely been a change in this issue as my housemate (who is a member of the home group) is able to ask our 2 nest minis to play bbc stations successfully. However, when I ask (google home account owner) I still get a "sorry, I can't do that here, but you can try to ask me to play on one of your other devices" message. This seems very weird to be working for one user and not the other! I've rebooted both devices and re-trained the voice match just in case it was that. Would removing the devices and re-adding them help?

[GeoffG1]

This has been outstanding for over a week now, affecting at least 600 Google speaker owners in the UK - what is preventing the Google and BBC development staff from implementing a solution? 

[hil58]

600 try 600000 the subject was covered on radio 4 you and yours on wed 12 April have a listen everyone

[BudsSpud]

XM Radio worked last night and this morning!

[Warjacqui]

Hi Muddi - is it a technical or contractual issue? All evidence suggests contractual, as reddit posts confirm in their hundreds, which means a long long negotiation before its fixed? 

[katyotter]

It is not worth thanking me for my patience as it has run out. It is now over a week - in fact 9 days - since I reported this problem to you, since my smart speaker became nothing of the kind.  I have only one radio so I am faced with continually relocating it, every time I do this ir needs time to reconnect to the internet - it is tedious in the extreme. If you have sold us smart speakers that are no longer smart speakers then they are not 'fit for purpose'.  Are you intending to gather them back in? It would be helpful if you would put up a definitive notice here explaining exactly what is going on and when you intend  for all devices to be working again, or what plans you have regarding refunds.

[Bouler]

Nice surprise this morning. Woke up, said “Play Radio 4” to my bedside Hub and it did! Went round my 3 mini speaker, large speaker and Hub max and they are all working. 

Alleluia!!!!

[Kevinsssss]

---

@Muddi wrote:

Hey everyone,

We appreciate your patience.

I understand the ongoing frustration many of you are experiencing around live BBC streams that aren't working on some Google Home/Nest devices for quite some time now. Rest assured the team is aware of this issue, and looking into this with our relevant partner. I know this may not be the answer you're looking for at the moment, but once we have new information to share, I'll update this thread. In the meantime, affected users may cast to their speaker from the BBC Sounds mobile app.

The BBC also released information about this issue. Check this link for your reference.

Cheers,

Muddi

---

So is there no new information at all apart from acknowledging that there is an issue?

Who is working on it?

[nicklockett_gm]

Just listened to Radio4 You and Yours slot on this ...missed it originally as my google speakers weren't working - (lost BBC from the radio on my 3rd speaker today, so now only 1 out of 4 gets bbc radio)....the You and Yours slot was fascinating - everyone passing the buck - and no-one appears to know exactly what the cause is....thank god that Matter (https://csa-iot.org/all-solutions/matter/) will be the new connectivity standard and that we can all move away from being dependent on any one manufacturer. This fiasco should be a learning lesson that the bigger players like Google, Amazon and Apple don't really care once they've sold the hardware (but we knew this anyway) ....for me, I'll move everything over to Home Assistant as my controlling hub and use the Google speakers as dumb terminals...at lease home Assistant (hass.io) is open source and we won't be subject to arbitrary "it will no longer be supported" decisions. I would have thought the BBC would be concerned about what appears to be a huge loss of listeners - internet figures are saying it affects over 600,000 people (and those are probably only the ones who are complaining), If I what to listen to BBC now, I have to use my mobile phone...at least that still connects as it uses BBC sounds app.

[nicklockett_gm]

And ...miraculously, all my speakers have all come back to full functionality overnight.... no changes at my end for 2 days.. perhaps the You and Yours slot sparked someone into action at the Beeb

[Mikey501]

BBC website has an update today saying problem has been resolved and google are rolling a fix out, anyone have any idea how quickly we will get this fix?

[katyotter]

I think 'Don't hold your breath' is the answer here. Mine is still coming back with that inane response of  ' I can't do it here.....' etc.  Customer Service rating everyone?

[Gasman]

Now working for me, Radio 2 at least?, so try again?

[Shanjp]

Worked for me this evening 

[Speaker1]

Working for me now too hurrah!!

[Mikey501]

Yes, mine seems to have returned now!

[Gasman]

All four of my speakers can now play Radio 2.
Albeit a little slow to start, so not sure if they are going to do it, but eventually do, so small price to pay.

[Warjacqui]

Mine works again today! 

[kickmaleerie]

Mine picked up the fix late last night here in Scotland.

[IRMG]

So BBC Radio worked fine 90% of the time on my google nest and google nest mini here in Ireland through tunein - now it wont work through tunein or bbc sounds at all. 

These speakers are now just an unreliable absolutely crap product and Google should be ashamed of how poor they are really 

[Gasman]

Now working Muddi.