Definitely is. I've tried watching and uploading more recent BBC documentaries onto platforms like Youtube and YouTube would be quickly to remove said copyright violation. It's deplorable how moneygrubbing the BBC has become while also being penny pinched. Heck, most of their more recent documentaries seem require partial co-producing with WGBH (PBS Boston) or KQED (PBS Bay Area) because stuff's expensive now. A sad financialization of a public good. Thank goodness Vietnam doesn't extradite and that there seems to be some organized crime nexus there around pirate streaming, otherwise all the pirate sites would have gone down.
It's worth noting there's quite a distinct separation between the BBC and BBC Studios (which used to be called BBC Worldwide). The BBC is publicly funded via the UK's TV license. BBC Studios is entirely funded by its own profit. They're very careful to maintain the gap between the two. It's why so many BBC Studios productions can't be viewed on BBC's streaming platform domestically; the rights are managed and sold separately. It's not surprising to see partnerships with other production houses across their core markets.
Just like Sesame Workshop making millions off of merchandising Sesame Street characters that were created with tax dollars from PBS and local PBS stations.
And then, to make it even worse, new episodes of the program that was created with tax dollars to educate poor young people for free is now only available first-run to non-poor kids who subscribe to one particular streaming service.
Are you a poor child? Tough. You can watch the reruns a few weeks later. Reruns of the shows that were funded with your parents' tax dollars.
That, actually makes sense. And explains why I can still watch older BBC docs (pre-2012) that were ripped onto youtube. Didn't the airgapping become much more strict when the Tories started pushing the "BBC profitability" schtick?
It's likely not, per German newspaper Heise the Indian government has banned links to the movie under emergency powers, but it's not really clear why the IA copy got deleted [1].
If it was removed from youtube or IA based on the emergency laws, I'd be able to access them here in the US. Youtube would have invoked geoblocking to go in line with Indian regulations. The fact that the documentaries were deleted across 2 very distinct jurisdictions points to overzealous copyright management by the BBC
It might be deplorable but it's totally expected - the BBC is constantly starved of money by Murdoch-friendly governments, so it had to find alternative income streams.
I'd be happy to pay a TV license fee 100% higher than it is now, in exchange for a really-universal and non-profit BBC. I'd also be happy for Parliament to inject more money into it. Would you...?
